J&K: Youth turning into Agripreneurs with government aid

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], October 31 (ANI): Jammu and Kashmir Government has taken innovative measures and policy decisions to increase the income of the farmers and encourage youths to adopt agriculture as a medium of employment, as per the official statement.
According to the department of information and public relations JK, over the past two years, the government has shifted to the improved farming system on scientific lines and market-oriented policies in order to make agriculture and allied sector a sustainable and profitable economic activity.
Notably, braving all the challenges of agricultural reform, the ranking of Jammu and Kashmir in monthly farm income has improved and J&K UT is standing tall among the top 5 States/UTs.
As per officials, Jammu and Kashmir have limitless potential in agriculture and concerted efforts by the Government are opening up doors of opportunity for small and marginal farmers. Never before had high-density plantation investment in agro-based industries taken place at the kind of speed witnessed in the last two years.
Jammu and Kashmir government has focused on creating umbrella groups for selling local and small-scale products, besides holding brainstorming sessions on the innovations happening in various categories of start-ups in agriculture such as agro-processing, artificial intelligence, digital agriculture, agricultural mechanisation, waste to wealth, dairy, fisheries, and other entrepreneurship programs.
The Green Agriculture Revolution and the contribution of Agricultural Universities, Institutions and Krishi Vigyan Kendras have changed the way of farming in an innovative way by extending the benefits of modern technologies to the farmers, informed officials.
The government is developing strategies and credible mechanisms for upscaling of farmers-led innovations and further strengthening the spirit of "Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat" and making J&K 'AatmaNirbhar' (self-reliant) in agriculture sectors besides a host of measures for achieving faster growth in the agriculture sector along-with providing sustainable income and livelihood to farmers have also initiated.
As per the department of information and public relations JK, today the state has thousands of Agri-preneurs, Champion Farmers whose lives were changed with the support of the UT administration. Even many women agri-preneurs encouraged others to take up farming and earn a respectable income.
Karrtar Chand of Rattal Udhampur was motivated by the continuous and persistent efforts of the Department of Horticulture Udhampur for establishing a nursery of fruit plants under the Private Sector on his land. With the intervention of technical and subsidy support from the Department, he established a good quality nursery in an area of 20 Kanals, as per the official report.
According to the official report, he started producing quality and elite planting material for fruit crops like strawberries, walnuts, apples and apricots. Further his production capacity has been increased upto 3,50,000 fruit plants per annum including Strawberry Runner.
His nursery has been registered by the department of Horticulture and further accredited by National Horticulture Board, Gurugram. On average he is earning Rs. 6.00 Lakhs (Rupees Six Lakhs)/annum from the sale of fruit plants, besides providing/generating 1,500 mandays employment per annum.
Similarly, many female members of Self Help Groups are involved in the value addition and processing of fruit and vegetable products in the Reasi area. Earlier these women were using old and laborious time-consuming methods of drying and processing. These members of SHGs were given training in the art of processing and drying several fruit and vegetable products like aonla candy, mango leather, raw mango, mushroom, masala Tikki, vegetables etc by the department, as per the official report.
According to the official press release, the Department also provided an assist to these ladies for purchasing 34 Solar Dryers on a 50 per cent subsidy during 2021-22 under the UT CAPEX budget. These solar dryers take 1-2 days to dry their produce which otherwise used to take 10-15 days.
Now, these ladies are using these solar dryers due to which their job has become less laborious, time-saving, and hygienic and the quality of the products has also improved drastically as the natural colour and aroma are retained in the final product. (ANI)