Srinagar: The second Union Territory Level Apex Committee (UTLAC) meeting held at SKUAST-Kashmir under the chairmanship of Dr. Mangla Rai former Director General ICAR and attended by Dr. Ashok Dalwai, CEO NRAA, GoI; Sh. AtalDulloo IAS Financial Commissioner (Additional Chief Secretary), Agriculture Production Department, GoJK; Dr. P.K. Joshi, Secretary NAAS, New Delhi; Dr. Prabhat Kumar Horticulture Commissioner A&FWD, GoI; Dr. S.H. Gupta Former Director, IARI; Dr. J.P. Sharma, Vice-Chancellor-SKUAST-J and Dr. Nazir Ahmad Ganai, Vice-Chancellor, SKUAST-Kashmir.
During the meeting 33 projects on different sub-sectors of Agriculture and allied formulated by SKUAST-Kashmir,Jammuand DevelopmentDepartments, GoJKfor holistic development of agriculture and allied sectors in the UT of J&K. The main objective of this exercise is to transform subsistence agriculture to sustainable agri-economy through investment of knowledge, technology and capital.
The three day deliberations of the UTLAC is expected to go a longway in multifold increase in contribution of Agriculture to GDP. Hundred percent (100%) seed replacement rate, double resource use efficiency, reducing food waste, triple food processing, building capacity to meet the quality planting material, establish 300 functional and profitable FPOs, vocational skill trainings and build state data banks using AI and ICT tools were some of the highlights of the projects reviewed by the committee. The committee recommended dove tailing of various projects in a manner that secondary output of one activity becomes the input of another activity so as to maximize the resource utilization and minimize the wastes.

KR Desk