Srinagar, July 10 (KNO) : The Department of Animal Husbandry is going to establish its first poultry estate in Jammu and Kashmir in Tral area of south Kashmir. The innovative initiative to set up the estate conceptualized by Principal Secretary, Animal, Sheep and Fisheries Department Dr Asghar Hassan Samoon will give a boost to the poultry sector in the state which is importing poultry worth Rs 1000 crore every year. In this regard, Dr Samoon today chaired a meeting with the officers of Animal and Sheep Husbandry Department, Industries and Commerce department, Revenue and Planning department.
The officers who attended the meeting included Director Animal Husbandry Department Kashmir Purnima Mittal, MD SIDCO Ravinder Kumar, Director Industries and Commerce Mehmood Shah, ADC Pulwama Yasin Chowdhary, CAHO Dr Muneer Ahmed Qureshi, XEN SIDCO Abdul Rashid Bhat and other officials. It was given out that the objective of the scheme will be to establish poultry units, lair and broiler depending on the demand, to encourage small & marginal farmers, educated & unemployed youth, women, socially & economically backward section of the society to take up activities of poultry sector in a compact area by providing required infrastructure and related facilities.
Saying that the objective of the Poultry estate is to achieve economies of scale by adopting cluster approach, better resource sharing etc, Dr Samoon directed conducting join inspection of site by Revenue, SIDCO and Animal Husbandry Department for starting work at the earliest. Highlighting the importance of Poultry estate, Dr Samoon said that these model poultry estates should have a snowball effect and propel private sector to pay attention to bio-security issues, hygienic, pollution-free production and welfare of primary farmer community, etc.
He reiterated the vision of the department to make J&K state self-sufficient in poultry products which is currently estimated at 1000 crore bill. He urged the private players to join the government in the mega initiative which is a win-win situation for both farmer and private players. Dr Samoon also asked the officials to explore the possibility of fodder development in a sufficient patch of land which can cater to the livestock of adjacent villages of poultry estate.(KNO)