Jammu Tawi, Jan 10: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha
inaugurated Mega Fruit Plant Nursery at Chakroi, RS Pura
here on Tuesday.
The Mega Fruit Plant Nursery houses 50 different Blocks
for growing mother plants of different fruits including Citrus
fruits. Spanning over more than 800 Kanal area the Mega
Fruit plant nursery will grow and provide saplings of
Guava, mango, litchi, other citrus fruits and also of the
Dragon fruit.
It is the biggest fruit nursery in North India. In the coming
time, 10 lakh saplings of fruit plants will be distributed to
farmers. Micro irrigation system was also established in
the mega fruit nursery for irrigation in addition to other
advanced facilities and modern equipment. Tissue culture
lab and other labs will also be established in the coming
time, it was informed.
Sinha said, the Nursery will provide best technologies as
well as ‘true-to-type' quality planting material that will
reshape the Horticulture Sector in the area.
It is a massive achievement that in one year a mega fruit
plant nursery has been established in an area where cross
border shelling was a normal thing in fields, he added.
Our effort is to make sub-tropical fruit cultivation a multi-
faceted business by increasing efficiency of orchards with
the help of various interventions like setting up new
nurseries and new plant material testing labs, observed
the Lt Governor.
Government is committed to serve the present and future
needs of farmers in an integrated manner. Our endeavour
is also to convert farm's & orchard's potential into farmer's
power and transform all the districts of both Jammu and
Kashmir divisions into a hub of export with the cultivation
of niche crops and value addition of special products, the
Lt Governor said.
To ensure new wave of growth momentum, 29 projects
approved by Apex Committee for Holistic Development of
Agriculture & Allied sectors are being implemented. The
plan worth Rs 5013 crores will bring significant change in
the lives of around 13 lakh farming families of J&K
including 2.62 lakh small and marginal farming families,
the Lt Governor noted.
A strong agricultural marketing ecosystem will increase
the farm income and reduce the value loss. We are
working on covering the entire value chain including
inputs, harvesting, processing, packing, storage, besides
meeting the need of quality planting material etc. and
developing infrastructure & other facilities while taking
climatic conditions into consideration, the Lt Governor
said.
We have also made provisions to arrange and grow 80%
of fodder requirements locally within J&K, he added.
Speaking on the services extended by the government,
the Lt Governor said that around 31 lakh land passbooks
have been generated and 400 public services have been
made fully online with a provision of Public Services
Guarantee Act.
On the issue of proper functioning of the Ranbir Canal, the
Lt Governor said that a permanent solution via a policy for
uninterrupted and proper functioning of the Ranbir Canal
will be ensured. He also clarified that there is no such rule
for compulsory buying of cattle from outside the region to
avail the subsidy. 'And if there is any, I declare it Null &
Void', he added.
Bharat Bhushan, Chairman DDC Jammu, extended his
gratitude to the Central Government under PM Narendra
Modi for ensuring peace at Border areas which has led to
development works like the Mega Fruit plant nursery at
Chakroi.
Atal Dulloo, Addl Chief Secretary, Agriculture Production
Department, congratulated the Horticulture department for
completing the project of Mega Fruit Plant Nursery within a
stipulated time frame.
This mega fruit plant nursery established with state-of-the-
art equipment like Automatic weather monitoring system,
will facilitate easy supply of quality fruit saplings.
Several publications including Mega Fruit Plant Nursery
Chakroi Magazine, Cultivation of Litchi and Strawberry
and Strategic management of Stone Fruit were also
released on the occasion.
The Lt Governor also planted a sapling in the premises of
the nursery to mark the occasion.
