KATHUA: Principal Secretary Animal & Sheep Husbandry Navin Kumar Choudhary today inaugurated ‘Pashudhan Mela at Tehsil headquarter Nagri Parole here.
The Principal Secretary while addressing the farmers said that the ‘Pashudhan Mela’ is first of its kind Mela held in UT of Jammu & Kashmir organized with an objective to educate farmers about the latest cattle breeds besides providing them opportunities to get the best breed of livestock along with exposure to latest farm practices.
Navin said that the Mela will be a regular affair in J&K covering each district in a phased manner. He said such Melas play an important role in grooming the livestock owners as they get ideas and expertise from outside breeders.
The Principal Secretary said that the Department has taken a series of steps to empower farmers and livestock owners to adopt dairy which possess huge market demand. He appealed the youth to come forward to start their units in dairy farming under Integrated Dairy Development Scheme (IDDS) which provides expertise and necessary machinery at subsidized rates.
Referring to the decision taken to revise dairy schemes to attract more people, the Principal Secretary said the dairy sector has witnessed considerable increase in recent times. He said the objective was to make Jammu & Kashmir self-sufficient in milk production which is presently importing over 25% of the total consumption from the neighbouring state of Punjab.
Responding to the demand for upgraded infrastructure of the Animal Husbandry unit in Nagri Parole, the Principal Secretary assured that a well equipped mobile van will be provided for the benefit of locals.
During the Mela, a variety of breeds of cattle and buffalo from neighbouring state of Punjab besides scores of local livestock breeds including breeds from Kashmir were put on display.
Deputy Commissioner Kathua, Rahul Yadav, while speaking on the occasion appealed the farmers to avail maximum benefits of these melas and obtain knowledge from functionaries of Animal Husbandry.
DDC, Vice Chairman Raghunandan Singh on the occasion said that more such melas will be organized across the district to educate the livestock owners.
The Principal Secretary also gave away prizes to the winners of best breeders award.
DDC Chairman Nagri Parole Sandeep Majotra; Director Animal Husbandry, Vivek Sharma; Director Horticulture Ram Sewak; Joint Director Farms, D. S Bindra; JD Poultry Dr Anil Gupta; CAHO Kathua, Satvir Singh Raina besides CAHO of other districts and other concerned officers and large number of farmers were also present on the occasion.