Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) Meeting of KVK-Kargil-I and KVK Kargil-II under the chairmanship of Vice-Chancellor, SKUAST-K, Kashmir Professor J P Sharma was held at KVK-Kargil, Kurbathang on May 23.

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic situation, officers from the allied departments, extension scientists, representatives of farmers and media persons participated in the meeting through online mode.

EC, Agriculture, Hill Council, Kargil, Muhammad Ali Chandan was the chief guest. Director Extension, Dr. D M Makhdhoomi; Director Research, Dr. S A Wani; Heads of KVK, Kargil-I and KVK, Kargil II; Dr. Ghulam Mehdi; Dr. Shahnawaz Rasool Dar; Senior Scientist, MAR&ES Kargil, Dr. Faizan Ahmad besides scientists other concerned officers were also present during the meeting.

During the day long programme, detailed discussion was held by the scientists, farmer representatives and officers from the line departments on various issues like pest and disease management, utilization of underutilized crops like black zeera, mushroom and buckwheat, high yielding varieties of different crops and technologies for doubling farmers’ income.

Muhammad Ali Chandan while expressing concern over the Quarantine Act on export of fresh fruits from Ladakh said that this not only causes huge losses to fruit growers of the district but is also a threat for loss of apricot in Ladakh. He also underlined the need to strengthen coordination between the parental institutes and agriculture extension departments for finding solutions, dissemination of technologies and enlightening farmers about the farmer-friendly government schemes. He urged Vice-Chancellor SKUAST-K to take requisite measures on different issues pertaining to Ladakh.

He also appreciated the efforts of KVK and research station teams and expressed optimism that it will not take much time to bridge the gap between lab to land since the entire workforce including the public representatives and directors are proactive with a positive attitude and response.

He further stressed the stations of SKUAST-K in Ladakh to focus on diversified farming, water and fertilizer use efficiency, soil testing, commodities based processing centers, commodities based marketing organizations/units, food processing etc and further suggested scanning technologies related to the specific regions and to develop pocket-wise technology.

Meanwhile, the Director Extension praised the scientists of KVK and research stations for their hard work and was impressed with progressive farmer Ahmad for successful hydroponic vegetable cultivation in Kargil. He stressed that such technology needs to be promoted keeping in view the decline in cultivable fields.

The Director Research assured to find a solution on the issues raised during the meeting and advised for one farmer-one-village and one-product concept. 

Earlier, the meeting started with the welcome note by the Subject Matter Specialist Dr Disket Dolkar followed by a presentation of the annual progress report and action plans of both KVKs by the respective heads.