Srinagar: Advisor to Lieutenant Governor Farooq Khan inspected Quality Control Laboratory consisting of Fertilizer Quality Control Lab, Pesticide Quality Control Lab and Organic / Bio-Fertilizer Quality Control Lab in presence of Director Agriculture Kashmir Chowdhary Mohammad Iqbal at Agriculture Complex Lalmandi, Srinagar.
During the inspection advisor deliberate upon the officers of the lab to uphold the quality standards of pesticides / fertilizers organic/ bio-fertilizers to provide quality products to farming community for agriculture and horticulture crops and insisted for increasing the capacity of the Laboratory for testing of more number of molecules of insecticide/ pesticides with high tech equipments with precision and accuracy for sustainable and remunerative agriculture.
Director Agriculture Chowdhary Mohammad Iqbal on the occasion informed advisor, for providing quality products of Pesticides, Fertilizers and Organic Fertilizers, to the farmers and orchardists, the Quality Control Laboratory has been augmented and its infrastructure has been upgraded after September 2014 deluge. The Quality Control Lab has been established under the provisions of Insecticide Act-1968 and fertilizer control order 1985. The Laboratory has a capacity of analysing the quality parameters of 600 samples of pesticides and 600 samples of fertilizer per annum. At present parameters of 32 molecules are tested and efforts are on to increase the capacity of testing more number of molecules of insecticides / pesticides by installation of high tech equipments. He further added that for attaining time bound effective results we have already deployed highly qualified staff / resource persons in the Laboratory and the Quality Control Lab is now working in double shift, and due to strengthening of the manpower the number of testing has increased by two times with precision.
Tabasum Naz Agriculture chemist who is also the in charge of the quality control laboratories on the occasion reiterated that the samples of Fertilizers/Pesticides, Organic and Bio-Fertilizers and other products are received by Laboratory through Enforcement Agency of the Department and the products are tested with immense precision and accuracy so that the quality products are provided to the farmers for horticulture and agriculture crops. She informed that during the year 2020-21 Quality Control Lab has received 1406 samples of Pesticides out of which 1056 samples were analysed whereas 739 samples of Fertilizers were also received out of which 702 samples were analysed.
Advisor appreciated the working of Quality Control Lab and stressed for strengthening its functioning.
Besides Joint Directors of the department senior officers were also present during the inspection.

KR Desk