J&K, NAFED sign MoU to improve the  Horticulture Marketing

J&K UT Administration signs historic MoU with NAFEDOn January 1, 2021, The Union Territory Administration of  Jammu & Kashmir  (J&K) signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED). The agreement will give a major thrust for marketing the Horticulture Produce.

i.NAFED and the J&K Government will work on branding & marketing of fruit crops & establishment of market linkages for exotic, non-seasonal vegetables & flowers in the metro cities of India.

ii.The MoU was signed by Navin Kumar Choudhary, Principal Secretary of Agriculture & Horticulture Department, J&K & Sanjeev Kumar Chadha, Managing Director of NAFED in the presence of J&K’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.

Key Points:

i.As part of the agreement, NAFED will invest INR 1700 Crores for Implementing High Density Plantations across 5500 Hectares in the next 5 years (2021-25).

ii.High Density Plantations of Apple, Walnut, Cherry, Pear Flowers are expected to increase the income of farmers by upto 3-4 times.  High Density Plantations of Apples will be implemented at Kishtwar & Bhaderwah.

iii.NAFED will establish 20 Farmer-Producer Organization, one in each district.

iv.It will also construct 3 cold storage clusters – one each in North Kashmir, South Kashmir & Kathua at a cost of INR 500 Crores.

v.For the purpose of Branding & Marketing, NAFED will ensure  Geographical Indications Tags (GI Tags) for fruit crops like Apple, Walnut, Cherry, Olive, Litchi.

Post-Harvest Infrastructure:

Both entities will also ramp up the post-harvest infrastructure in the state for agriculture by building Cold Atmosphere Stores, Grading & Processing facilities.

Nurseries for root stock:

Hi-tech nurseries for raising root stock will be developed and they will be imported directly to the farmers.

Virus Indexing Labs:

The agreement also involves setting up virus indexing labs for testing the quality of planting material.

Recent Related News:

i.On September 20, 2020, the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) inked MoU with Army for the development and operationalization of Airstrip in Kishtwar.

About National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED):
Chairman – Bijender Singh
Headquarters – New Delhi

About Jammu & Kashmir:
Lakes – Dal Lake, Nagin Lake, Wular Lake, Surinsar Lake, Mansar Lake.
National Parks (NP)– City Forest (Salim Ali) NP , Dachigam NP , Kishtwar NP.





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