POONCH: Director Horticulture Jammu Gul Sayed undertook a two day comprehensive tour of District Poonch to assess the implementation of the horticultural schemes and review on-ground developmental activities aimed at strengthening the horticulture sector in the region.

During the tour, Sayed was accompanied by Chief Horticulture Poonch Sanjeev Kumar and other senior officers & officials of the department. He visited multiple farmers' orchards across Poonch, Lassana, Harni, Mendhar, Surankote and Balakote blocks. He inaugurated different Mother blocks of Apple and Walnut established by the beneficiaries under HADP.

During the interaction programme with orchardists, he took first hand appraisal of the condition of orchards of apple, walnut, pecan nut and other stone fruit crops. He encouraged farmers to adopt advanced horticultural practices to improve productivity and enhance income.

He also addressed the concerns of the farmers and encouraged them to fully leverage the benefits of departmental schemes especially HADP and JKCIP aimed at improving horticultural productivity and increasing farm income. He asked the farmers to come forward and access the HADP & JKCIP portals, apply online and avail benefits of these schemes. He highlighted the solar fencing being introduced through JKCIP scheme for the areas affected by monkeys & other wild animals.

Further, Director inspected various Govt. fruit plant nurseries across the district viz: Ajote, Poonch, Ari, Mendhar & Surankote and appreciated the working of District Horticulture department in implementing various schemes and developmental works going on in district Poonch. The Director took stock of the ongoing developmental activities in the nursery and gave on spot instructions to the nursery staff regarding the production of quality grafted planting material in the nursery.

Later, the Director convened a meeting of the District Officers, HDO's, officials & field functionaries of district Poonch. He impressed upon staff to make maximum efforts to reach every farmer and create greater awareness about various departmental schemes, particularly focusing on the promotion of Pecannut, Walnut and HD Apple.