Agri Dept Kashmir rebuts news item ‘Incidence of some diseases in the paddy fields of village Amirabad Tral’

• Terms it baseless, false & malicious; advises concerned media outlet to seek clarification before publishing unverified claims

SRINAGAR:  Agriculture Department Kashmir today rebutted a news item carried by some media platform titled ‘Incidence of some diseases in the paddy fields of Amirabad Tral,’ terming it baseless, false and malicious.

In an official handout issued here, the Department informed that taking cognizance of the issue a joint team of Directorate of Agriculture Kashmir headed by Joint Director  Agriculture Extension Kashmir, Sartaj Ahmad Shah accompanied by Plant Pathologist Kashmir, Bhabishan Jasrotia; Dr. Shabir-U-Rehman, Dr. Sageera Showkat and Ajaz Ahmad Scientists from SKUAST Kashmir including Bashir Ahmad Rather, Professor Entomology; Dr. Fayaz Ahmad, Professor Pathology and Scientist from KVK Malangpora Dr. Waseem Ahmad; Assistant Professor Plant Pathology visited the affected patches of paddy land comprising of about 3 kanals in the said village and after keen observation it was noticed that there are no symptoms of any disease.

However, it was given out that keeping in view the economically non-significant damage to some spikelets and apprehension of the farmers it was decided and conveyed to the farmers to spray Cholorophyriphos 20 EC at 1 ml/lt of water to the affected fields as prophylactic measures.

Sub-Divisional Agriculture Officer Tral, Agriculture Extension Officer Tral and his team were also present on the occasion. “Therefore keeping in view all the above-mentioned facts on the ground, the contents of the news story are far from the truth and appear to have been deliberately attempted to tarnish the reputation of the department,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, the Agriculture Department Kashmir has advised concerned media outlets to seek clarification before publishing unverified claims to avoid spreading misinformation.