REASI: Director Horticulture Jammu Gul Sayed today conducted an extensive tour of Reasi district. During the tour, he formally kick-started Rainy Season Plantation Drive by planting a sapling of citrus plant at village Nomain Katra. The initiative marks a significant step toward sustainable horticultural development and aims to boost fruit cultivation in the region’s rainfed and sub-tropical areas.
The Director was accompanied by Chief Horticulture Officer Rajinder Sharma; Assistant Director Sunil Gupta; MCC Dheeraj Bailam and other officials of the department. The event drew enthusiastic participation from local farmers and community members, reflecting a growing awareness and interest in horticulture-based livelihood opportunities.
Speaking on the occasion, the Director explained in detail various government schemes run by the Department of Horticulture for the welfare of farmers. He highlighted the benefits of Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP), the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), and other centrally sponsored schemes.
He impressed upon farmers to purchase the fruit plants from departmental nurseries. He further highlighted the solar fencing being introduced through JKCIP scheme for the areas affected by monkeys & other wild animals.
Later, he visited Government Fruit Plant Nursery Dagochibagh and inspected mother blocks of different fruit crops and protected cultivation structures equipped with micro- irrigation facilities. The Director took stock of the ongoing developmental activities in the nursery and gave on spot instructions to the nursery staff regarding the production of quality grafted planting material in the nursery.
Further, the Director Horticulture chaired a meeting of the District Officers, Horticulture Development Officers, officials & field functionaries of district Reasi. He instructed the officers to organize awareness camps, Kissangoshtis, to ensure better implementation of departmental schemes especially HADP for the ultimate benefit of the fruit growers.
V.C SKUAST-K chairs 3rd Scientific Advisory Committee meetings of KVKs Kulgam, Shopian
KULGAM: Vice Chancellor SKUAST- Kashmir, Professor Nazir Ahmad Ganai, today visited KVK Kulgam where he chaired 3rd scientific advisory committee meetings of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) of Kulgam and Shopian.
Director Extension SKUAST-Kashmir, Professor Raihana H Kanth and Additional Deputy Commissioner, Vikar Ahmad Giri were the guests of honour on the occasion.
Vice Chancellor appreciated the work done by both the KVKs for uplifting the income of farmers, and applauded the champion cum innovative farmers for setting the example for other farmers in commercializing agriculture by adopting the advanced technologies.
He also focused on the need of adopting the latest technology by KVKs to transform the KVKs into model agricultural farms.
He encouraged evaluation of natural farming at every KVK as a deterrent to changing climate scenarios and intense pesticide use.
Director Extension, Professor Kanth appreciated the initiatives of KVKs for entrepreneurship development and emphasized the need to adopt modern and sustainable agricultural technology in agriculture / livestock for better management and profitability.
ADC Kulgam applauded the role of KVKs in shaping the future economic growth of the farming community.
During the programme, Prof. and Head KVK Kulgam and Shopian, Dr Manzoor A. Ganai and Dr Zaffar A. Badri presented the annual progress report of respective KVKs for the 2024-25 and the action plan for the year 2025-26.
The newly established herbal garden was also inaugurated by the Vice Chancellor in addition two extension publications were also released.
The programme was also attended by Prof. Najeeb ur Rehman, Associate Director Research MRCFC Khudwani; Prof Hamid ullah, Head AARC Shopian; Programme Coordinators of KVK Pulwama and Budgam, Prof. Javaid Ahmad Mugloo and Dr. Bilal A Lone, other Scientists of SKUAST-K, all district level officers of Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Sheep Husbandry, Sericulture, Fisheries and other allied departments and progressive cum innovative farmers from both the districts, respectively.


