VC SKUAST chairs 17th Scientific Advisory Committee meeting of KVK, Kulgam

SRINAGAR, May 18: Vice Chancellor SKUAST-K, Prof Nazir Ahmad Ganai, today chaired 17th Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) meeting of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kulgam, at MRCFC Khudwani.

Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Agriculture Production Department (APD), Atal Dulloo, was present as chief guest.

Director Extension SKUAST-K, Professor Dil Mohammed Makhdoomi co-chaired the meeting while Director Research SKUASTK, Professor Tariq H Masoodi, Dean Faculty of Agriculture Wadoora, Professor Riahana H Kant, Dean Faculty of Horticulture SKUAST- K, Professor Shabir Ahmad Wani, Associate Director Research MRCFC Khudwani, Professor Najeeb ur Rehman Sofi, Associate Director Research, Professor Nasir A Dar, Senior Scientist and Head KVK Kulgam, Dr. Manzoor Ahmad Ganai, scientists of KVK Kulgam and MRCFC Khudwani besides all chiefs and other officers of line departments, progressive farmers and entrepreneurs were present in the meeting.

Vice Chancellor SKUAST-K stressed on integration of mandatory work of Kendra with all the components of Holistic Agriculture Development Plan (HADP) so that the activities listed under the plan are integrated and carried out in collaboration with line departments efficiently and in time bound manner.

He emphasized the need for value addition and branding of agricultural produce for its profitable marketing.

Atal Dullo, in his address, highlighted the decreasing factor productivity in agriculture and stressed that investment in agriculture needs to be increased to enhance its productivity and profitability. He laid emphasis on value chain development for growth of agriculture and use of IT for dissemination of advisory and also for human resource development of the farming community.

Director Extension highlighted the determined efforts of Vice Chancellor in bringing laurels to SKUAST Kashmir. He appreciated the efforts of KVK in carrying out their mandated activities religiously with focus on initiatives set to change the scenario of agriculture and allied sectors in the UT.

Director Research SKUAST Kashmir briefed about the research feats of the University and extended his thanks to Atal Dulloo for being a corner stone to newly launched HADP initiative in the UT.

Additional District Development Commissioner, Showkat Ahmad, expressed his views on various novel programmes and schemes in agriculture like Farm ITI and aspirational blocks.

Professor Najeeb ur Rehman, presented the work done in the station on very high yielding oilseed, short duration and rust resistant wheat and high yielding blast resistant rice varieties.

Senior Scientist and Head KVK Kulgam, Dr Manzoor Ahmad Ganai, presented the detailed power point presentation on Annual Progress Report for the year 2022-23 and Action Plan for the year 2023-24. He revealed that KVK is already working on various potential areas which have been channelized to uplift the farming community of the district. He also highlighted commendable work done by the Kendra on decreasing the cost of production in apple, scientific measures for pesticide residue reduction in apple, skill development of rural youth for entrepreneurship development, mobilization of farmers for FPO formation, drone technology and food processing and exploitation of social groups for efficient spread of SKUAST K technology.

Earlier, the dignitaries conducted field visit to various varietal evaluation trials on high yielding brown sarson and short duration rust resistant wheat varieties of MRCFC Khudwani.