MINUTES OF 4 TH SAC MEETING OF KVK POONCH ORGANIZED ON 9 th SEPTEMBER 2011 Krishi Vigyan Kendra, SKUAST-J, Qazi Mohra, Poonch organized its 4 th Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) meeting for Rabi-2011 on 9 th of September 2011 at Dak Bungalow, Poonch. The meeting was chaired by Dr. K.S. Risam, Director Extension Education SKUAST- Jammu. Dr. A.K. Sharma, Associate Director Research, RARS, Rajouri, District Officers of allied departments along with farmers/farm women members participated in the meeting. The list of participants is enclosed as Annexure-I. Dr. Arvind Ishar, Subject Matter Specialist (Entomology) welcomed Dr. K.S.Risam and other members of the SAC. ICAR Geet was played before the start of deliberations on the agenda items. The deliberations on various agenda items were taken up as per below given details. Agenda Item 1. : Confirmation/approval of proceedings of 3 rd SAC The proceedings of the third SAC meeting held on 11 th October 2010 were circulated among the member before the house for confirmation. No comments have been received so far. The same were placed before the house for confirmation which was approved by the house. Agenda Item 2 : Action taken report of 3 rd SAC. Regarding the action taken report of 3 rd SAC meeting. Dr. Khar informed the house that there is an excellent linkage between the KVK and the allied departments. Several trainings have already been conducted in the field of agriculture and veterinary sciences after the 3 rd SAC meeting. High yielding varieties of wheat, mustard and gobhi sarson toria lentil and chickpea have been promoted through FLDs along with recommended package of practices for their adoption enmass. Efforts are being made towards procurement of basmati cultivars that are suitable for Poonch. As desired by the Sericulture department, training programmes on sericulture have been planned. Regarding horticultuire, the package of practices for the cultivation of persimmon have already been provided to the department of horticulture and training programmes on soil conservation and fisheries have been proposed in the action plan. Also the new technology for the off season vegetable productions have been demonstrated to the farmers. Agenda Item 4 : Presentation of Progress Report Dr. Sanjay Khar, Member Secretary and Programme Coordinator of KVK Poonch presented the progress report of KVK w.e.f October 2010 to 10 th August 2011.
Commenting on the technical programme of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Associate Director Research, RARS, Rajouri suggested to introduce new varieties of wheat in Poonch which have been tested and performed well under Rajouri conditions. Dr. K.S. Risam, Director Extension Education requested Associate Director, RARS Rajouri to supply the list of varieties that has already been tested and recommended by RARS Rajouri for intermediate hill region of Poonch so that all the Front Line Demonstrations and On-Farm trials would be conducted using recommended varieties. He further asked KVK scientists for the introduction of latest high yielding of mustard, Gobhi sarson, toria, lentil, chickpea etc by way of FLDs. (Action: KVK Poonch, RARS Rajouri) Mr. Jatinder Sharma, Chief Agriculture Officer, Poonch requested for introducing some new hybrids of maize and also suggested for popularization of yellow maize varieties which are generally more high yielding compared to white maize. He informed the house that some farmers are successfully cultivating Basmati-370 by procuring its seed of their own and emphasized upon the need for introduction of some good basmati varieties of paddy. Dr. A.K. Sharma, Associate Director, RARS (Rajouri) suggested to introduce Pusa Sugandh 2, 3 or 5 which were tested and performed well under Rajouri conditions. Dr. K.S. Risam, Director Extension Education suggested to procure seed from a government organization for its constant supply over the years. He also emphasized upon the KVK SMS(Plant breeding) to collect the sample of red scented variety of rice and get it characterized from University HQ/NBPGR. Mr. Sharma also demanded a technical bulletin on new varieties of wheat suitable for Poonch and training programme on vermin compost unit that can be popularized/advocated in Poonch for greater acceptance among farmers. Mr. P.K. Koul, Chief Horticulture Officer acknowledged the receipt of package of practices for Persimmon and pecan nut sought by him in previous SAC meeting and found the literature quite useful. He informed the house about the scope of pomegranate in Poonch and told that fruit bearing in pomegranate is good but attack of insects causes huge losses for which he sought some effective remedy. In this regards, Dr. Risam told the house that Himachal Pradesh is doing well in the field of pomegranate cultivation and we should follow them. He also stressed upon introduction of good varieties of pomegranate and timely spray of insecticides to control attach of anar butterfly. He further emphasized upon the need of increasing training programmes
in scientific cultivation of horticultural crops especially in training and pruning as farmers of the district are not fully aware of its benefits for fruit trees. Mr. Koul demanded training programme on training and pruning of plum, pear and quince fruits along with recommendations for control of beetle attack inside pear and quince fruits. It was resolved to add Mandi area as venue for this training programme. Mr. B. Ahmed Chauhan, Assistant Director Fisheries, clarified that at present there is a very limited scope of fisheries in Poonch so there is need to aware people about nutritional value of fish. He proposed to conduct some awareness camp for farmers in collaboration with KVK. Dr. K.S. Risam, Director Extension Education assured the provision of expert in fisheries from university if the department of fisheries proposes some training programme for its officials. However he asked KVK scientists to go for impact analysis of such vocational trainings. Such trainees can also be linked to JKEDI for loan/subsidy facility. Care should be taken to popularize the technologies among more farmers and not a single farmer. (Action: KVK Poonch, Department of Fisheries) Dr. Hardeep Singh, Assistant Manager, Poultry (CAHO), Poonch informed that there is a vast scope for dairy and Poultry if taken up by the farmers as an enterprise. He also suggested taking up training programmes in poultry and dairying especially for youth so that their involvement can be enhanced in agricultural activities. He assured the full cooperation of his department in organizing training programme for the rural youths of the district. (Action: KVK Poonch and Department of Animal Husbandry) Dr. V.K. Bhalla B.V.O., Poultry assured full co-operation of his department to KVK for collaborative programmes. Dr. K.S. Risam, Director Extension Education suggested to organize clinical camps for Bakerwals enroute during migration of livestock in collaboration with animal/sheep husbandry departments. Experts whenever needed will be deputed from veterinary college and other KVKs. (Action: KVK Poonch and Department of Sheep Husbandry) Mr. M.A. Reshi, Deputy Director, Sericulture asked for dissemination of new technologies available for increasing the sericulture production in the district. Dr. Sanjay Khar, Programme coordinator requested for the results of the recommendations made available to the
department by KVK Poonch regarding diseases(posder mildew) in cocoon. Deputy Director informed that the technology could not be tested as yet due to the lack of technical personnel. Dr. K.S. Risam, Director Extension Education assured the provision of expert in sericulture from university, if some training programmes are proposed by the department in collaboration with KVK and dates communicated well in advance (Action: KVK Poonch, Department of Sericulture) Mr. Rajinder Singh Sudan, Department of Irrigation briefed about the need for conducting training programmes on soil erosion & on importance of soil testing to the farmers keeping in view the steep topography of the district. For mass awareness, TV/radio programmes on this aspect may also be given by KVK scientists. Progressive farmers of the district also shared their views and experiences of working with KVK. They asked for strong cooperation and support of KVK in future as well. Mr. Kulwant Singh informed the house that with the intervention of KVK farmers have harvested good monetary benefits from production of off season vegetable crops. In this context, Dr. Risam informed the house that there are so many varieties of vegetables that have been released by IARI regional station, Katarian, H.P from where the seeds can be procured. Also, varieties and seed from public sector should be preferred rather than private sector seeds. (Action: KVK Poonch and Farmers) Mr. Jagdish Kumar, Programme Assistant (Computer) presented a data system developed by KVK Poonch for easy accessibility of farmers which shall be uploaded soon in the KVK website. Addressing to the suggestions and queries of the members, Dr. K.S. Risam, DEE, SKUAST-J directed Programme Coordinator to incorporate all the suggestions of the members of Scientific Advisory Committee. Applauding the work of KVK scientists, he stressed upon the need to do more for the benefit of farming community especially through organization of vocational trainings in mushroom cultivation and bee keeping. He advised the scientists of KVK to collaborate with the allied departments for effective dissemination of technologies. He stressed upon the need of developing KVK farm as a demonstration unit which can be shown to the visiting farmers for adoption on their own fields. He stressed that KVK should be ideal point
for inspiration of the farmers and best for their motivation towards adoption of agriculture as an enterprise. He suggested to conduct a trial of winter maize on KVK farm for testing its feasibility at Poonch. He further advised that only technical support should be given to the progressive farmers and improved free inputs should be made available to the poor farmers for all-round progress of the district. He requested animal husbandry officer to arrange chicks and provide them o KVK so that they could be distributed as FLD to the farmers. Department of Sericulture was assured full cooperation from KVK as well as Division of Sericulture, SKUAST-Jammu, so that problems faced by farmers in silk worm rearing could be sorted out. He also desired from Chief Agriculture officer, Poonch to explore the possibilities of providing green houses and drip irrigation system to the farmers at the lowest subsidized rates so that the farmers are benefitted. He assured the full co-operation of Directorate of Extension Education, SKUAST-J for improving the working of KVK in the district. He also emphasized upon the KVK SMS(PBG) to collect the sample of red scented variety of rice. He also appreciated Mr. Jagdish, Computer Programme, KVK Poonch for his good efforts towards IT and developing KVK Poonch website for the benefit of the farmers. (Action: KVK Poonch and DEE, SKUAST-J) The meeting ended with the vote of thanks proposed by Sh. Pawan Kumar Sharma (SMS, Agricultural Economics).