Union Minister for Agriculture Shivraj Singh Chouhan will be on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir beginning July 3, it was announced on Wednesday.
During the visit, he will chair high-level meetings and participate in key programmes related to agriculture, rural development, and academia, an official release issued here said.
On the morning of July 3, the release said the minister will hold a review meeting at the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar with senior officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and the Department of Rural Development.
In the afternoon, he is scheduled to attend a meeting of the Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare on Natural Farming and the National Oilseeds Mission.
Later in the day, Chouhan will meet the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha, at the Raj Bhavan, it added.
On the second day of the visit, Chouhan will attend the sixth convocation ceremony of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST-K), Srinagar, as the chief guest.
During the convocation, 5,250 students are to be awarded undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD degrees. In addition, 150 gold medals and 445 merit certificates will also be given to outstanding students in recognition of their academic excellence, it said.
After the convocation ceremony, Chouhan is expected to visit saffron and apple orchards at the SKUAST-K campus and interact with horticulture scientists and farmers.
The visit by the minister is considered a significant step toward promoting sustainable agriculture, natural farming, and rural development in Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier, as part of the ‘Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan’, he had visited Jammu and held direct interactions with farmers. In continuation to that engagement, Chouhan has been regularly visiting various states and villages to directly connect with the farming community.