JKHPMC on course to become profitable and self-sustainable: Navin Choudhary

SRINAGAR: Principal Secretary, Agriculture & Horticulture, Navin Choudhary today chaired the 61st Board of Directors Meeting (BoDs) of Jammu & Kashmir Horticultural Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation (JKHPMC) Ltd The meeting was attended by representatives of Horticulture & Agriculture Departments, SKUASTK/ J, National Horticulture Board (NHB), Small Farmers, Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC), Finance & Planning Departments of J&K Govt. Speaking on the occasion, Principal Secretary said that the Corporation is on course to become profit making and self sustainable soon as it has embarked on a slew of new initiatives and establishment of post-harvest infrastructure projects in the UT of J&K. Managing Director, JKHPMC, Shafat Sultan gave a detailed presentation and progress report on the various projects undertaken by the Corporation viz CA Stores, Pack Houses, Common Incubation Centers (CICs), Developing district Shopian as Apple Cluster under the Cluster Development Programme (CDP) of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, GoI etc. The Board approved the CAPEX Budget proposals of the Corporation for the FY 2022-23 to the tune of Rs 11 crore, which envisages establishment of a 2500 MT CA Store in Doabgah, Sopore with NABARD/ AIF funding and construction of two Fruit & Vegetable Aggregation and Processing Centers one each in Kashmir & Jammu regions of the UT. Principal Secretary remarked that the implementation of the cluster development programme in Shopian in order to make the district’s apple globally competitive would be a game changer for the connected stakeholders. Navin Choudhary also directed the Corporation management to speed up the process of completing the audit for the remaining period as per the time lines shared by JKHPMC with the, “Committee on Papers laid on the Table of Rajya Sabha” in Feb, 2022. The Board advised the Corporation management to complete the post-harvest infrastructure projects under execution like Cold Room and Pack House in Narwal Jammu, Food Cluster in Doabgah, Sopore, CA Stores in Behrampora, Baramulla & Rambirpora, Anantnag Common Incubation Centresat Doabgah-Sopore, Achabal-Anantnag and Narwal-Jammu during the FY 2022-23. Regarding the unfinished works of the APEDA sponsored Chowdrigund, Shopian Apple Pack House project, Principal Secretary asked the MD, JKHPMC to speed up the efforts to complete the project by end of Sep, 2022. The Board also advised the Corporation management to outsource its Apple Juice Plant (AJP), Card Board Unit, CICs and other infrastructure in the pipeline, so as to make the Corporation profit making and self-sustainable in the near future.