SRINAGAR: Mountain Research Centre for Field Crops- Khudwani and Mountain Crop Research Centre- Sagam jointly celebrated‘High Altitude Rice-Maize Day” at MCRS Larnoo on Wednesday.
Prof. Nazir Ahmad Ganie, Vice Chancellor SKUAST-Kashmir, was the chief guest on the occasion and inaugurated the event. The other notable dignitaries present on the occasion included Prof. Sarfaraz Ahmad Wani-Director Research, Prof. D.M. Makhdoomi- Director Extension, Chief Agriculture Officer-Anantnag, officers from the Department of Agriculture and local farmers. The purpose of the event was to showcase the latest varieties and technologies of high-altitude rice and maize to the participating farmers and give them an opportunity to choose the variety of their preference for the next Kharif season. Prof. Najeeb-Ul-Rehman, ADR-Khudwani, and Prof. F.A. Sheikh presented an overview of the MCRS,Larnoo and MCRS- Sagam respectively, and highlighted the remarkable achievements in rice, maize and other field crops. Speaking on the occasion, Prof. N.A. Ganie highlighted the role of the research stations in the food and nutritional security of the state and congratulated the scientists for developing ecology-specific varieties and earning global recognition. He asked the farmers to replace the local poor performing varieties with high-yielding, disease-resistant varieties.
He further assured the farmers that a comprehensive survey of the area will be carried out by the university scientists to ascertain the potential and constraints for horticulture crop production in the area and insisted on imparting capacity-building training programmes to upskill the local farming community. He advised the scientists to upscale the seed production of high-yielding rice and maize varieties in farmers’ participatory mode. Agri-entrepreneurship is an emerging sector with tremendous opportunities and rural youth should engage themselves in it to earn a respectable living”, the chief guest concluded. Director Research thanked the farmers for active participation and advised the scientists to focus on specialty maize and rice to boost the farmers’ income. Director Extension highlighted the role of the university and the breeding and popularization of high-yielding rice and maize varieties in every nook and corner of the Kashmir valley. Further, he advised the concerned university officials to arrange an exposure visit of the progressive farmers of the Larnoo area to the Shalimar campus of SKUAST-K to give them first-hand experience about the remarkable achievements of the university in different agricultural and horticultural crops.
Chief Agriculture Officer Anantnag discussed various welfare schemes available with the departments and advised the farmers to fully avail their benefits. Earlier, the local farming community brought various issues faced by them to the notice of the authorities and asked them for quick redressal of the same.The program concluded with a vote of thanks to the chair.

KR Desk