Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today addressed the first Zonal Convention on Natural Farming at SKUAST-Jammu.
The two-day convention on the theme “Natural Farming: A National Priority for Human Health and Ecological Restoration” will focus on the major thrust areas of environmental safety, public health and agricultural sustainability towards ensuring growth and prosperity of the farming community.
The Lt Governor congratulated AGRIVISION and SKUAST-Jammu for organizing the convention on the relevant topic of natural farming.
He said that such deliberations will help the policy makers, planners, and farmers to focus on increasing the sustainability of farm livelihoods, environmental safety, and human health.
The Lt Governor said that J-K UT is giving major impetus to natural and organic farming and has registered a record increase in terms of area covered under organic certification in a sustainable manner.
Today, J-K is amongst the major organic producing States/UTs in the country. We are methodically developing a robust ecosystem by extending financial assistance, technological and marketing support for better realization of prices to farmers, the Lt Governor added.
With the combination of market linkages, large scale mechanization, organic farming, and farmer-centric reforms, we have made significant achievements in increasing our farmers’ income, wherein J-K ranks third in the list of top five states in terms of relative income of farmers. Our agriculture sector is going to contribute substantially towards realizing the goal of a self-reliant India, the Lt Governor said.
The Lt Governor observed that in the long run, organic farming with technology based assistance will reduce the input cost and usher in rural prosperity.
“Natural and organic farming can effectively tackle the challenges posed by climate change and soil degradation. We are addressing the concerns of small and marginal farmers, and instead of narrow silos, agriculture and allied sector is being developed to ensure farm sustainability for the farmers”, the Lt Governor said.
He stressed that this integrated approach in agriculture can only facilitate sustainability and growth, thereby achieving Gram Swaraj and Anna Swaraj.
The Lt Governor also underlined the importance of harnessing the full potential of organic farming, and utilizing local resources, besides developing the infrastructure keeping in mind the requirements of the national and international markets.
This year’s budget of the UT has a huge allocation of Rs 2835 crore for the agriculture sector and Rs 646 crore for the horticulture sector. For the development of the dairy and sheep sector, Rs 392 crore has been allocated to bring positive changes in the lives of the farming community, the Lt Governor observed.
