By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
The Uttarakhand government on Tuesday said it has decided to conduct a survey to assess the damage to agriculture crops in view of the prolonged dry spell in the hill state.
Agriculture Minister Ganesh Joshi gave the necessary instructions for the survey during a review meeting of the Agriculture and Horticulture departments at his camp office in Dehradun. “The Minister instructed the officials to conduct a survey immediately to assess the damage caused by the lack of rain and submit a report,” an official statement said.
The Minister also directed officials to begin work on the construction of integrated pack houses and the establishment of testing labs conforming to international standards, with the aim of promoting the export of agricultural products and increasing farmers’ income. He emphasized the need to revitalize the state’s 93 government-owned orchards and directed that concrete efforts be made to link these orchards to income generation.
He also instructed officials to prepare clear and effective action plans for the JICA project, Kiwi Mission, Apple Mission, and Dragon Fruit Mission and to work in a planned manner. During the meeting, Joshi also gave necessary instructions to the officials for the effective implementation of centrally and state-sponsored schemes.
Present on the occasion were Secretary Agriculture Dr. S.N. Pandey, Horticulture Director Sundar Lal Semwal, CAP Director Dr. Nripendra Chauhan, Horticulture Mission Director Mahendra Pal, Deputy Director Agriculture Ajay Verma, and other officials.