Advisor Farooq Khan inaugurates sale of vegetable seedlings at Lal Mandi

Srinagar, Feb 22: Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Farooq Khan Tuesday inaugurated the sale of seedlings of different vegetable crops produced purely on scientific lines in High Tech Polygreen Houses at Lal Mandi here.
The sale witnessed tremendous enthusiasm of people with overwhelming participation, not only from Srinagar but also from far-flung areas of the Valley.
While distributing the seedlings among the beneficiaries, the Advisor said that the department is committed to promote Kitchen Garden and backyard vegetable culture in the urban areas of Kashmir and a number of steps have already been taken in this regard.
Advisor Khan said that seedlings of different crops produced on scientific lines are more disease resistant and productive, which ultimately makes venture of vegetable production economically viable.
He asked the Kitchen Garden lovers to avail this opportunity and take maximum benefit of all such initiatives offered by the department.
The seedlings are produced in Hi-Tech Poly house which is a method of precision farming where plants are grown under protected cultivation. The crops grown in the open fields are exposed to vivid environmental conditions, attack of insects and pests, whereas the Poly House provides a more stable environment. Seedlings are raised four to five times a year or as per the demand from Kitchen Garden Lovers.
Director Agriculture Kashmir, Chowdhary Mohammad Iqbal, informed the Advisor about the various steps being taken up by the department for promotion of Vegetable Production and kitchen garden culture in urban areas.
He said that the department is expecting that more than 5 lakh hybrid seedlings of different types will be distributed among the growers in the first phase. He said that it is a campaign launched across all the districts to provide seedlings to the growers at an earliest. He further informed that the production is sufficient and efforts are on marketing phase to earn better dividends and at the same time to provide livelihood opportunities to people.
He also said that the Hi Tech Poly House production allows us to exploit agro climatic conditions and provide a great potential to take it on commercial lines.
Later Advisor Khan also flagged off a batch of 35 farmers to SKUAST-K for training in organic vegetable cultivation in which the vegetable crops are raised by the use of organic waste such as animal wastes, plant wastes, crop wastes, farm wastes, and biological materials.