Saffron Mission approved

Srinagar, Sep 28: Secretary Horticulture, Manzoor Ahmad Lone Saturday chaired a meeting of State Level Executive Committee (SLEC) of Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) at Directorate of Horticulture in which two Controlled Atmosphere (CA) Storage projects and two food processing projects were cleared.

Director Agriculture Kashmir Syed Altaf Aijaz Andrabi gave a detailed presentation regarding National Saffron Mission. During the meeting action plan under National Saffron Mission for the year 2019-20 to the tune of Rs 80.30 crore was approved. The progress made by various Line Departments under MIDH was also reviewed and chairman stressed for gearing up the pace of expenditure.

Director Agriculture Jammu, Director Horticulture (P&M) besides other officers attended the meeting.

Director Horticulture Kashmir and Mission Director, MIDH, J&K Ajaz Ahmad Bhat gave a brief overview of MIDH. A detailed presentation on the action taken the previous SLEC meeting and an overview of the agenda items of the current meeting was given.

During the meeting revised Action Plan 2019-20 of MIDH incorporating the residual activities of Saffron Mission was approved. In respect of other agenda items like Reefer Van, CA Store, Food Processing Projects, he was appraised about the action taken on the decisions of last SLEC.

The progress made by various Line Departments under MIDH was also reviewed and Secretary stressed for gearing up the pace of expenditure.

Secretary APD urged the officers to devise a strategy for making  Agriculture and Horticulture a remunerative and a profitable venture. He further added that these sectors should be made a glamorous enterprise by turning farmers into Agricultural/Horticulture entrepreneurs. He instructed the officers to increase their touring and monitoring so that basic field functionaries of the department will reach out to every farmer.