Inaugurates
National Symposium cum Indian Phytopathological Society North Zone Meet
JAMMU, NOVEMBER 13: Minister for Horticulture, Syed Basharat
Ahmed Bukhari, today called for determined efforts to bridge the gap between
farmers, researchers, policy makers and development agencies for formulation
and implementation of need based plans to help Horticulture emerge as a viable
and lucrative venture in the state.
The Minister was speaking during inaugural ceremony of National
Symposium cum Indian Phytopathological Society (IPS) North Zone Meet on
Ecologically Sustainable Plant Disease Management held under Diversified
Farming Situation at SKUAST-Jammu.
The 2 day symposium cum meet was organized by Sher-e-Kashmir
University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) in collaboration
with IPS, IARI, and New Delhi. Vice Chancellor SKUAST-Jammu, Prof Pradeep KSharma was the guest
of honour on the occasion. Applauding the initiative of SKUAST for organizing the event,
the Minister said that such occasions greatly help working out innovative plans
for promotion of a specific sector besides suggesting remedial measures for
redressal of impediments in the existing system. “The meet will enable the
participants to learn and implement the knowledge in their respective fields to
further their objective of promoting Horticulture sector in the state to the
fullest”, he added. He emphasized the need of saving plants from diseases
by taking proper care and precautions to maintain their health properly.
The Minister stressed on proper and timely dissemination of
information about the advanced and innovative methods of agriculture being
developed by the university. He said that awareness is pre-requisite for
success of any scheme.
To safeguard the interests of farmers, consumers and the
Horticulture sector as a whole, Horticulture Department in a collaborated
effort with SKUAST is going to organize mass awareness camps regarding newly
formulated research and development strategies for effective management of
plant health, the Minister asserted.
Citing Horticulture as an important contributor to SGDP, the
Minister said that the Horticulture sector play a vital role in strengthening
the economy of the state, poverty alleviation and employment generation. “About
7 Iakh families are directly or indirectly involved and depend on this core
sector of state’s agriculture profile”, he added.
Bukhari said that J&K State has the privilege of being an
important Agriculture Export Zone due to its good quality of Horticultural
products that had garnered it with a world-wide fame. It holds a unique
position in the world in respect of Saffron production , he added. The Minister, while highlighting various initiatives being
undertaken by the Horticulture department to boost the sector, the Minister
said that the department has recently conducted Horticulture census in order to
have the first hand information available about the fruit bearing trees so that
a comprehensive Horticulture policy is formulated for which an expert committee
has also been constituted.
“There is a huge potential for growth of the horticulture sector
in the state and the department is taking several pioneering steps to tap
this”, he affirms”.
Besides promoting modern farming technology in the State,
Bukhari said that Government is formulating a visionary document in the form of
State Horticulture Policy which will act as a roadmap for next 30 years to
develop the horticulture sector.
Later, the Minister released a Souvenir and Book of Abstracts of
the symposium besides books titled “Pathogenic Fungi in Plant Organisms”
and “Climate Change and its impact on Hill Agriculture” on the occasion. Patron and Director Research SKUAST, Dr Jag Paul Sharma,
President, (North Zone),DrShahid Ahmed, Secretary, Dr Dinesh Singh, Convenor
SKUAST Prof V K Razdan besides senior functionaries of SKUAST and Indian
Phytopathological Society (IPS) along with senior officers of Horticulture
department were present on the occasion.
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