Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu called for increase in milk production and development of poultry estates for filling the gap between demand and supply of Milk and poultry in Jammu and Kashmir.
He passed these instructions while reviewing the working of Animal and Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries Departments in the Civil Secretariat here today.
Sh. BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Sh. Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner; Dr Asgar Hassan Samoon, Principal Secretary Animal, Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries, besides other senior officers of concerned departments attended the meeting.
While reviewing the status of implementation and progress of various schemes, the Lt Governor emphasized the need for implementation of benefit oriented schemes in a time bound manner to achieve the set targets. He said that Animal and Sheep Husbandry is a major sector that caters to the needs of a large chunk of population in Jammu and Kashmir.
During the meeting, the Lt. Governor was informed that J&K produces 25.41 lakh MT milk annually. Further, about 2.5 lakh Litres of milk is processed every day. The department is focusing on the target to achieve double the quantity of milk processing in the next two years. Further, there are 2200 veterinary centres established across Jammu and Kashmir.
The Lt. Governor directed the animal husbandry department to cover the entire J&K under the service of mobile veterinary dispensaries which would be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.
The Lt. Governor stressed on the need to involve Cooperative Societies and encourage the farmers for dairy farming.
While reviewing the working of Fisheries Department, the Lt. Governor was informed that the department has imported genetically modified Rainbow Trout Seed from Denmark to boost the production of trout fish, which will also attract the farmers towards the fish farming due to its high returns. Jammu and Kashmir produces about 600 MT or 71 percent of trout fish in India, the Lt. Governor was informed.
The Lt. Governor asked the officers to further enhance the fish production to make it a lucrative self employment option.
The Lt. Governor observed that the poultry industry has remained the most dynamic and fastest growing segment in the animal husbandry subsector. He stressed for involving unemployed local youth in poultry sector and develop poultry estates on scientific lines.
He directed the concerned for better health facilities and vaccination for the livestock so that farmers related to this sector don’t face any kind of problem. He also emphasised on establishing the wool processing units in Jammu and Kashmir, as despite being the second largest producer of wool, the Union Territory does not have wool processing plants.
The Lt. Governor said that the people be made aware about departmental and welfare schemes launched by the government so that they could avail maximum benefits.