JAMMU: A Mega awareness camp was today organised by the Department of Animal Husbandry here to address the growing unemployment and its containment through employment generation schemes of the department. At the onset of the programme, Director Animal Husbandry Department Jammu Dr Parvinder Singh Sudan launched a plantation drive giving a message to all the farmers “Plant trees, Sow happiness”.
Later, the Farmers were briefed about the departmental schemes under Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP) explaining the roadmap for dairy development , poultry development, fodder development in UT of J&K. Further, the Departmental Schemes of sheep husbandry were also briefed to the farmers by officers of Animal Husbandry and Sheep husbandry Jammu.
Kulbushan Khajuria, a progressive farmer, thanked the Director and CAHO Jammu for transforming the district from milk deficit to exporting milk to Punjab Moga. He suggested organizing a Cattle sale mandi to enable local farmers to sell animals duly maintained and reared in Satellite heifer rearing units established in district Jammu under Holistic Agriculture development programme.
Addressing the Gathering, Dr. Sudan said that the department of Animal husbandry and farmers were counterparts as the former can’t do anything without the support of the progressive farmers. The Director informed the gathering that 20 High genetic merit Bulls are about to be imported to J&K from the USA. “In future we will be able to produce our own sex sorted semen,” said Dr Sudan.
The Director also emphasized the need for value addition so that milk produced fetch good returns to the farmers. The camp featured the deliberations by eminent subject experts including Chief Animal Husbandry Officer (CAHO), Saleem Patigaroo; President, J& K Dairy Association Sandeep Singh Chib; Member Kisan Advisory Board Tajinder Singh; Progressive Farmer Kulbushan Khajuria; Progressive Dairy Farmer Captain Rajinder Singh and former Sarpanch, Chatha Avtar Singh.
