Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Rajiv Ranjan Singh, who is on a two day visit to Kashmir, today said the central government will extend all possible support to J&K for developing dairy and fisheries sectors.

The Union Minister was speaking at a function, ‘Reimagining Livestock & Fisheries with Future Ready Farmers: Vision 2030’, at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST-K).

The Union Minister reaffirmed the Central Government’s commitment towards agricultural advancement and farming community in J&K. He said that these sectors need to be organised by strengthening and bringing them under Cooperatives at district, block and panchayat level to benefit the dairy farmers, who are mostly small and marginal. He added that there is tremendous potential for exports for Kashmir trout and niche dairy products, however, that requires processing and value addition. He said his Ministry will provide full support to the UT government for establishing retail dairy outlets in each district.

J&K Agriculture Minister, Javid Ahmad Dar; Union Secretary Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy, Alka Upadhyaya; Principal Secretary APD (J&K), Shalendra Kumar; Vice Chancellor SKUAST-K, Professor Nazir Ahmad Ganai; Vice Chancellor, SKUAST-J, Professor BN Tripathi; Additional Secretary, Union Ministry for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Varsha Joshi; Animal Husbandry Commissioner, DAHD, Abhijit Mitra and Joint Secretary Ministry of Fisheries, Sagar Mehra were present at the function.

Rajiv Ranjan Singh also interacted with the dairy and fisheries farmers, Poshu Sakhis and entrepreneurs, who informed him about the progress of these sectors in J&K over the years besides projecting their issues and challenges.

Earlier at SKUAST-K, the Union Minister toured the SKUAST-K Hig Density Apple orchards, followed by an inspection of various stalls showcasing groundbreaking agricultural innovations, particularly in animal sciences. A key highlight was the Minister's interaction at a stall featuring recently produced India’s first gene-edited sheep, a testament to the cutting-edge research being conducted at SKUAST-K in animal husbandry. This achievement places India at the forefront of advanced genome editing technologies in livestock.

J&K Agriculture Minister, Javid Ahmad Dar, thanked the Union Minister for his support in transforming the livestock and fisheries sector in J&K. He stressed on processing and value-addition of livestock produce for economic empowerment of the farming community.

Shalendra Kumar, gave an overview of the dairy and fisheries sectors of the UT while Vice-Chancellor SKUAST-K briefed about the university’s working.

The officers and faculty members from SKUAST-K, Directors and officers from the line departments and a huge number of farmers were present on the occasion.