‘Floriculture flourishing enterprise to overcome unemployment’
Jammu: Saying that the State has abundant potential in floriculture, Minister for Floriculture, Javaid Mustafa Mir exhorted for sensitizing farmers and youth about its scope and benefits besides adopting floriculture as a profession to take advantage of a viable and flourishing agri-industry.
The Minister said this while chairing a meeting convened to review the functioning of Floriculture Department here on Tuesday.
Addressing the meeting, Javaid Mustafa Mir highlighted the importance of floriculture industry, saying that it has emerged as a fast-growing business and registered tremendous growth during the past decades, extending its ambit worldwide. He asked for encouraging floriculture enterprise on commercial basis utilising modern techniques popular in the sector, adding that this cash crop can give very high returns. The Minister while reviewing progress of parks and gardens stressed for timely completion of all works. He also directed the concerned for mobilizing men and machinery of the department at District level for supervising, monitoring the maintenance of parks besides sensitizing the youth by organizing awareness camps and workshops regarding the benefits of schemes under floriculture sector.
The meeting was informed that there are 310 parks and gardens spread over thousand kanals of land which are being maintained by the Floriculture Department in Jammu Division besides 33 fountains. It was also disclosed in the meeting that field trial of cultivation of varieties of tulips has been successfully done at Sanasar.
The Minister asked the concerned to develop a new park at Bhour Camp area so as to provide an outdoor recreation facility to the peopel.
Looking at the agro-climatic conditions prevailing in the State which offers excellent opportunities for development of floriculture, Mir exhorted on developing floriculture on such a pattern that it can serve the internal off-season market and also for exports, an avenue yet to be tapped. He further stressed on cultivating a cropping pattern that would ensure highest income per unit area in comparison to labor and investment involved.
KV Correspondent
