Governance

GoI likely to support JK’s wool industry with new schemes, says Admin

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Raja Begum, 70, a Kashmiri craftswoman spins wool. Raja, in order to make ends meet, has been into the profession from the past 40 years. [FPK Photo/ Vikar Syed]

Srinagar: Additional Chief Secretary of JK, Agriculture Production and Farmers Welfare Department, Atal Dulloo on Friday held a meeting to deliberate upon different aspects of promotion of wool-based industry in JK.

The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, Vivek Bharadwaj; Director, Sheep Husbandry, Jammu/Kashmir; Director I&C, Jammu/Kashmir; Director Handicrafts and Handloom, Jammu/Kashmir; MD JK Industries and many other officers from the concerned Departments.

Jammu based officers participated in the meeting through video conferencing.

Dulloo stressed upon the officers to devise a viable framework for making the wool industry success in JK.

He emphasized that wool is the only raw material that is available in abundance here and can support a large industrial setup.

He maintained that such an industry has the potential to provide employment to thousands of our youth thereby tiding over the problem of unemployment here.

He asked the officers to look into all the aspects of reviving this industry here including the one on PPP mode. He observed that a well-thought plan has all the chances of being successful once implemented efficiently.

The ACS, Agriculture observed that it is the only natural fiber in which the country is deficient. He gave out that proper processing, grading, marketing, and value addition will turn around fortunes for farmers dealing with it. He enjoined them to put all the relevant infrastructure to optimal use so that wool farming becomes remunerative.

The ACS, Industries and Commerce reiterated that the promotion of the trade is the government’s priority. He remarked that the New Industrial Policy has all the attributes for promoting trade and business across JK.

He noted that any proposal for reviving this industry would be supported unequivocally. He gave out that JK has enough resources to support any such initiatives. He further asked them that they might look into the possibility of finding the relevant GoI schemes for supporting this initiative.

It was revealed in the meeting that the domestic production of wool in the country is not adequate and the industry is dependent on imports. The wool import to India stands at 77 million Kgs per year.

It was further revealed that JK produces 7 million Kg of wool annually against the country’s production of 40 million Kgs thereby accounting for 19% of the country’s production. It was said that the considerable wool production amalgamated with the installation of processing units would result in bolstering the economy of the UT.

It was informed that proper market interventions are being looked into for upliftment of raw wool from farmers. The lack of marketing interventions, processing infrastructure (scouring/carding etc) of the sector would be incentivized.

It was said that the road map would be time-bound, innovative, and self-sustaining therefore a factor in the local GDP.

Moreover, it was given out that the plan would focus on creating the capacity to convert raw wool into value-added products. It was said that it should not overlook the basic source of the raw material.

 

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