Javaid Naikoo
Srinagar, Sept 24:Giving details about loss to crops and to the department of Agriculture in 10 Districts of Kashmir besides Leh District of Ladakh division, Director Agriculture,Peerzada Mushtaq said that as per the reports received from field staff of all the 11 Districts, arround 38000 hectares of land was either completely washed away or damaged by floods.
He said that as per the damage report prepared by the his Department,Out of the 3 Lakh Hectares of crop area in Kashmir division around 1.35 Lakh Hectares have been fully damaged by flood while as 1.65 Lakh Hectares have been also severely affected due to incessant rains, drop in temperature and diseases to different crops, vegetables and fruits.
He said that loss in terms of production has been assessed at 8,54,213 MT in respect of Cereals, 5,08,492 MT in respect of Vegetables, 14,02,472 MT of Fodder , 1773 MT of Pulses and 11 MT of Saffron and the overall loss has been assessed as Rs 3675 Crore. He said that besides damage to crops, the flood has also affected the agriculture land badly and large chunks of land have been washed away, whereas in many areas large quantity of silt has got deposited in agriculture fields, rendering 3811 Ha of agriculture land uncultivable across the valley, on the basis of initial survey.
To reclaim the damaged land extensive soil conservative measures would be required for which a plan to the tune of Rs 453.51 Cr has been formulated.
"As Lal Mandi is still submerged in water my office functions from Budgam district, loss to soil testing labs, seed mulitiplication farms in lal Mandi, Padgampora, damage to infrastructure at Anatnag, Baramulla also goes arround 30 crores."Said Director Agriculture,Peerzada Mushtaq He said that keeping in view the loss to farmers in their ready to reap crops, The department has also formulated an assistance plan of Rs 64.17 Cr for farmers to assist the farmers by providing them free of cost seeds for the coming Rabi season in Kashmir, wherein Rabi crops are grown on approximately 1.3 Lakh Hectares of land and added that free of cost seed assistance will cover an area of about 60,000 Hectares and free fertilizer for all 1.3 Lakh Hectares in Kashmir division. |
