J&K approves regulations for functioning of agri-markets

Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday approved regulations for the functioning of agricultural markets across the union territory.
The Jammu and Kashmir Agriculture Produce and Market Committee (APMC) Act ceased to exist after the operation of J&K State Reorganization Act- 2019 with carving out of the Union Territory in Jammu and Kashmir.
The administrative council (AC), which met here under the chairmanship of the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, approved regulations for the functioning of agriculture markets across Jammu and Kashmir', an official spokesman said.
This Board will manage and regulate the established mandies in J&K and will remove the operational difficulties faced due to non-existing of statutory mechanism as on date, he said.
The board will be headed by the additional chief secretary and will have representatives of mandies and food associations as members as also other official members, spokesman said.
In terms of the new mechanism, director horticulture, planning and marketing to declare any store, cold store, warehouse with above 3 ton capacity and cooperatives, store centres as sub-yards of mandies for purpose of doing trade on e-nam platforms and for making e-payments on the e-nam portal, he said.
Director will be the sole authority to issue unified licences for carrying out trade in any mandi in J&K, he said.
It has a provision to allow outside J&K traders to do trade on the e-nam with the growers and traders of J&K, spokesman said. For this purpose, the director is allowed to recognize the licenses issued by the outside APMCs as valid licenses for doing trade on e-nam portal on mutual understanding basis with other states, he said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta impressed upon the officers of agriculture and allied sector to make the agriculture sector more attractive and remunerative with attractive economic returns for farmers.
He stated this while chairing a meeting to discuss the financial structuring of policy for holistic development of agriculture and allied sectors in Jammu and Kashmir here at Civil Secretariat.
He called for a multi pronged strategy as the sector is going through large scale interventions to increase farmers’ income manifold and be more profitable.
He added that in order to achieve better results on ground, the department has to work in mission mode to facilitate farmers in such a way that he would sustain beyond government support at the end of five years or so.
He called upon the concerned that J&K should become a role model as an UT.
He said any scheme becomes successful only if it is implemented well on the ground and added that there should be continuity for the implementation of these agricultural interventions on ground with clear withdrawal strategy so that farmers will reap maximum benefits even after external support winds up for them.
Earlier, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Agriculture Production Department, Atal Dullo made a detailed presentation on envisioning robust growth in agriculture and allied sectors in the Union Territory of J&K.
The meeting held a threadbare discussion over the list of projects cleared by Apex Committee.
The meeting discussed development of seed and seed multiplication chain in PPP, promotion of niche crops in J&K, farm mechanization and automation in detail while deliberating over interventions, output, and outcome in particular sector.
Besides, the meeting held discussion on other projects already cleared by the apex committee for implementation in the UT.
While summing up the discussion, it was informed that with the infusion of Rs 5013 crore, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is projected to increase from Rs 37559 Crore/year (2.02%) to 65701 Crore/year at 11.08%.
It was given out that livelihood would be secured for 13 lakh farm families with additional SDGP of R 28,142 cr/year. Similarly, 18,861 additional enterprises would be created to generate additional 2.88 lakh jobs and skill development for over 2.5 lakh persons to be trained in agri-skills.

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