Jammu, Nov 10: Minister for Agriculture Production, Finance, Mining and Cooperative Departments, Javid Ahmad Dar on Tuesday convened a review meeting with senior officers of the Horticulture Department to assess the progress of ongoing projects and evaluate implementation of development schemes aimed at strengthening the horticulture sector in Jammu and Kashmir.
The meeting was attended by Director Horticulture Jammu, Gul Syed, Director Horticulture Kashmir, Vikas Anand, Managing Director JKHPMC Mohammad Farooq and others concerned officials.
During the meeting, the Minister called for a focused, outcome-oriented and farmer-centric approach to ensure that the benefits of government initiatives reach the intended beneficiaries, particularly small and marginal farmers. He stressed that effective implementation of welfare schemes must remain a key priority of the department, with due emphasis on transparency, accountability and timely delivery of benefits.
Underscoring the importance of strengthening the department’s field-level outreach, Javid Dar directed the officers and field functionaries to undertake regular visits to horticulture areas to assess the ground realities, interact directly with the farmers and understand the challenges confronting them. He emphasised that field visits should serve as an effective mechanism for identifying the farmers’ concerns, addressing the bottlenecks and ensuring prompt resolution of grievances.
The Minister also called for intensified awareness and extension activities to educate the farmers about various government schemes, financial assistance, technological interventions and support facilities available under different departmental programmes. He emphasised that no eligible farmer should be deprived of the benefits of government initiatives due to lack of awareness or procedural difficulties.
Stressing the need for a district-specific development strategy, the Minister directed the officers to identify the horticultural potential, production patterns and specific requirements of each district and accordingly formulate and implement need-based, crop-specific interventions.
Javid Dar emphasised the need to strengthen the entire horticulture value chain, including production, productivity, post-harvest management, processing and marketing, so that the farmers receive better returns for their produce. He called for coordinated efforts among the Horticulture Department, Jammu and Kashmir Horticultural Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation (JKHPMC) and other allied agencies to ensure effective implementation of programmes and optimum utilisation of available resources.
During the meeting, the concerned officers gave a detailed presentation on the physical and financial progress of various ongoing schemes and projects being implemented by the Horticulture Department, JKHPMC and other allied sectors.
