SRINAGAR: Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) J&K on Wednesday organized an interactive session on Agro and related sector schemes under “Atma Nirbhar Bharat” in SKUAST-Kashmir. Navin Kumar Choudhary, Principal Secretary, Agriculture Production Department, UT of J&K was the chief guest. Speaking on the occasion, he said that it is high time to encourage farm mechanization, value addition and marketing to double farmers’ income. He invited young entrepreneurs to come forward with proposals to set up units and assured the full support of his entire team. Also, he urged the universities to help and handhold their students develop feasible business models taking advantage of the available market. Further, he discussed Top to Total Scheme in which 50 percent cost of saving in CA Store will be given by Government of India and 50 percent transportation charge will also be given for transporting to a destination of more than 100 Km. Poornima Mittal, Director, Animal Husbandry illustrated different schemes under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat including the cold storage schemes, Formalization of Micro Enterprises, and Agri Infrastructure fund. Earlier, while welcoming eminent speakers and participants, Farooq Amin, Chairman, CII J&K stated that the involvement of the population is more in Agriculture and Horticulture activities and hence there is a need to increase the productivity, quality and bring in technologies for transforming value chains of this sector. The function concluded with vote of thanks presented by Dr Mushtaq Ahmed, Vice Chancellor, SKUAST- Kashmir. Other officials present during the session were Shafat Sultan, MD, JKHPMC, Altaf Aijaz Andrabi, Director Agriculture, Kashmir, Ajaz Ahmad Bhat, Director Horticulture Kashmir and Dr Abdul Salam Mir, Director Sheep Husbandry Kashmir. The session was attended by more than 70 participants including budding entrepreneurs, progressive farmers and interested students, besides academicians and officials of the Agriculture Production Department.
