JAMMU: Director Agriculture Jammu, Anil Gupta convened a series of meetings over the last two days to take district wise review of the physical and financial progress under the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP), Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS), CAPEX and NABARD funded schemes.
The meetings were attended by Deputy Director Agriculture (Central) Sanjeev Rai Gupta; Deputy Director (Planning) Priyanka Parihar; Regional Level SMS Sanjay Anand; Accounts Officer Vishnu Kant Sharma; Technical Officer HADP (DoAJ) Raj Kumar, besides Chief Agriculture Officers (CAOs) and Drawing & Disbursing Officers (DDOs) from districts.
Speaking at the meetings, the Director Agriculture asked district level functionaries to extend the benefit of schemes to farmers strictly through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). He further directed them to furnish the expenditure details and organise capacity building programmes for farmers as per the notified calendar.
Highlighting the scope of diversification, Anil Gupta called for prioritizing promotion of floriculture projects under HADP, expansion of nurseries and polycarbonate structures, besides scaling up apiculture activities alongside traditional farming to enhance farm income. He further emphasized the need for effective coordination and communication among Agriculture officers and allied departments to ensure timely and result-oriented implementation of programmes.
The Director also instructed to equip Mini Soil Testing Labs with advanced 12-test machines to benefit farmers through reliable soil health analysis, thereby improving productivity and sustainability.