India Ministry of Agriculture team to visit J-K

It was decided at a high-level meeting which was convened under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), Ministry of Agriculture Farmers and Welfare, on Saturday at Krishi Bhawan here to discuss the boost in the production of almonds and walnut of four States including J and K. The meeting was chaired by Rajveer Singh, Joint Secretary MIDH, Ministry of Agriculture Farmers and Welfare.

The main focus of the meeting was to boost the production of almonds and walnut in the concerned states.

It was also attended by Commissioner Horticulture, BNS Murthy Ministry of Agriculture, Farmers and Welfare, Mission Director from J and K Aijaz A Bhat and Mission Directors from Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

In J and K the production turnover per year is Rs 6 crore. The walnut production is 2.7 lakh MT in 85,000 hectares whereas almond production is 10,000 MT in 6,000 hectares.

In Jammu province, the walnut production is 84356 MT and in Kashmir, it is 195066 MT while as the almond production in Kashmir is 10321 MT, in Jammu province it is 5 MT.

Speaking on the occasion, the Joint Secretary asked for proposals for cluster propagation of 50,000 plants in walnut and almonds per year, especially for Jammu and Kashmir.

It was also informed that under the MIS scheme, apples cultivated in J and K are procured directly from farmers by the government-run National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED).