Srinagar: Orientation-cum-training on the food processing programme for the development of clusters for specific products of J&K was inaugurated by Director Agriculture Kashmir Chowdhury Mohammad Iqbal at the Directorate of Agriculture Lalmandi here.
The training programme was attended by the Deputy Director Agriculture (Ext) Mohammad Syeed peer, resources persons, nodal officers and officers of agriculture, horticulture, JKHPMC and other allied departments.
Addressing the participants, the Director Agriculture stressed upon the importance of minimizing the post-harvest losses to different crops. He said the losses to different crops because of various reasons cause huge economic losses to the agricultural economy. He said that under a holistic document, special focus has been shifted to this aspect of crop cultivation. “A multi-pronged approach is needed to lower the post-harvest losses of different crops to an extent where it is not impacting the overall economic conditions of the farming community,” he said.
Chowdhury Iqbal marked the importance of processing and value addition of different crops and commodities. He asked the officers to explore the opportunities for the export of different agriculture, and horticulture crops and products from the allied sectors. He said there is a good export potential in many of our crops but the need of the hour is to ensure export quality material in terms of international requirements and recommendations.
Later on, the resource person for the programme Dr. Sajad Wani gave a detailed presentation on the orientation-cum-training programme under holistic development of agriculture and allied sectors. A threadbare discussion was held on the implementation of the project wherein stakeholders provided feedback and suggestions on the various aspects of the programme.
MD JKHPMC Shafat Sultan took questions via virtual mode and participated in the discussion with the participants of the programme.

KR Desk