MUZAFFARABAD: As many as 100 orchards will be planted in different areas of Poonch and Bagh districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in near future in the first phase of “Phaldar Kashmir Project”.

The project is being sponsored by ruling PTI’s regional president and real estate tycoon Sardar Tanveer Ilyas from his own pocket.

Aimed at making the AJK territory self-sufficient in fruit production, the project will be executed through a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) with which a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had also been signed by Mr Ilyas, who is also senior minister in the AJK cabinet.

According to a press release issued on Monday by Yasir Arif, a spokesperson for Mr Ilyas, apple, olive, walnut, malt, peach and apricot orchards will be established under the project in keeping with the climate and land fertility in the areas concerned.

Explaining their way of working, NGO office bearers informed the senior minister that they would provide the saplings to the persons who would give an undertaking of post-plantation care and conservation of the plants.

Such persons would keep the NGO representatives informed about the growth of the plant and in return would be provided with the requisite technical assistance and guidance as and when demanded.

Speaking on the occasion, the senior minister acknowledged that no plantation drive could yield desired results until every individual and society at large took its ownership.

He vowed to ensure the involvement of the community in not only planting of fruit plants but also the post planting care to secure the healthy and long life of their orchards.

He maintained that since the public sector in AJK offered limited job opportunities, he was determined to create as many livelihood sources as possible in the private sector, fruit production being one of them.

“We want our people to reconnect with their land and it’s our responsibility to provide them with both counsel and facilities,” he said.

The senior minister pointed out that horticulture had always been a major factor in economic development of occupied Kashmir and added that the same could also happen in the AJK territory if people took up this vocation on a serious and scientific basis.

He announced that he would also speak to the government departments concerned to set up laboratories for soil and water testing in areas where people showed interest in planting orchards.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2022