KL Desk
SRINAGAR
In a bid to promote commercial floriculture and boost economy of state, an exclusive flower Mandi was dedicated to farmers in Srinagar by minister for Floriculture Sham Lal Sharma on Monday.
Constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 1.22 crore under Rashtriya Krishi Vigyan Yojana (RKVY), a Central Government’s flagship program, the mandi which is first of its kind in J&K is spread over 10 Kanals.
Speaking on the occasion, the minister said that floriculture is one of the potential sectors which can help in boosting the State’s economy, adding that during the past four years, the Government has made tremendous progress to promote this sector and generated awareness amongst the farmers.
“With the best efforts of the department a large number of farmers are attracting towards this activity and adopting commercial floriculture in a big way as their livelihood,” Said Sham.
Satisfied by the work of the department sham said that constant awareness campaign by the department in every nook and corner of the State has changed the scenario and farmers are liberally taking up this activity and availing the benefits of several government schemes.
“With this facility the farmers will be able to market their products quickly and fetch good rates for different varieties of the flowers according to the market demand,” he added.
The market is located in the centrally located place, Rajbagh near horticulture complex. To preserve flowers in different districts of the valley, government has constructed 14 walk-in-cold rooms. In addition, five Refrigeration Vans have been procured to facilitate the farmers to carry their products to different destinations.
On the occasion, Sham also announced construction of 40-room Kissan Ghar at Srinagar and a 50-room accommodation for the farmers at Delhi. He said farmers face difficulties in absence of accommodation when they visit Srinagar and Delhi cities in connection with their business and Government has decided to create such facilities for them.
The department, this year has fixed a target of Rs. 7 crore incentives to the farmers to boost the flower production. Last year an amount of Rs. 1.70 crore were provided as incentives to the farmers.
