50 hectares saffron land rejuvenated under National Mission on Saffron in Kishtiwar: Agriculture Minister

 9 Organic Clusters for promotion of organic farming, alternate agricultural cultivation

Minister for Agriculture, Javed Ahmad Dar, today said that under National Mission on Saffron, 19989.03 Marla (50 Ha) area has been rejuvenated in Kishtwar district.

The Minister, while replying to a question raised by Sunil Kumar Sharma in the Legislative Assembly, said that the financial and technical assistance has been given to farmers under various component.

The Minister said that for rejuvenation of 19989.03 Marla (50 Ha) area, 5465 beneficiaries were given financial assistance for Saffron corms and Rs 1265 per marla involving the total subsidy of Rs 252.86 lakh was given to farmers.

He said that Rs 30 lakh subsidy was given to 100 beneficiaries for  vermi compost units, while as Rs 24 lakh subsidy was provided to 48 beneficiaries for Power Tillers/Weeders.

The Minister said that as many as ten   Farmer Training Camps were organized under National Mission on Saffron and about 250 farmers have been trained for two day with an expenditure of Rs 750/- per head.

The Minister informed the house that 03 FPOs have been formulated and are working in saffron processing, packaging and marketing through various e-Marketing Platform as well as through various buyer-seller meets in different parts of the country.

He said that for promotion of the Organic Farming, total 09 Organic Clusters have been established been under Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Alternate Agriculture.

The Minister said that the clusters included Organic Cluster Pochhal B2, Organic Cluster Galhar, Organic Cluster Garh, Organic Cluster Ligri, Organic Cluster Hamindrawn, Organic Cluster Tiyari, Organic Cluster Ishtiyari, Organic Cluster Karthaie and Organic Cluster Ladder.

He said that each organic cluster comprising 50 Farmers with 20 Hectare area and under these clusters, 450 farmers have been registered on Participatory Guarantee Scheme (PGS) Portal and have been provided Organic Inputs in an area of 180 Ha. He said that awareness camps have also been conducted in these clusters for the promotion of organic farming.