'JK govt committed to doubling farmers' income by 2022'

Jammu and Kashmir government is encouraging farmers to go in for modern farming and efforts are afoot to ensure they get best facilities as part of the drive to help double their income by 2022, state Minister for Industries and Commerce Chander Parkash said.
Addressing the gathering, the minister said that identifying the strength of soil is the first step towards increasing its fertility and the government is committed to doubling farmers' income by 2022.
The minister was speaking during a special outreach programme on agriculture related schemes initiated by central and state governments.
"The government has initiated many steps to educate the farmers about modern techniques in farming to increase the farm production which will ultimately lead to doubling their income," he added.

He further said the government has introduced Soil Health Card to help farmers ascertain their soil nutrient content.
The government has also launched several schemes like Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY), Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana, Soil Health Card scheme, neem-coated urea and electronic national agriculture market (e-NAM) to achieve the target of doubling farmers' income.

The minister asserted that there is a need to conserve water, incentivise agro-processing and promote balanced use of fertilisers in order to ensure higher agriculture productivity.
There is a need for better storage and marketing facilities for the farmers' produce so that they get better prices, he added.

The programme was organised by Directorate of Field Publicity, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India (JK region) at Jatwal in Samba.