Officials said on Friday that Rs 3,156 crore has been provided in the budget for 2023-24 to build an enabling environment for reforming J&K's agricultural and related sectors in order to boost farmer income, guarantee food security, and accelerate UT's economic growth.

A Holistic Agricultural Development Plan (HADP) with 29 suggested projects totaling Rs 5,012 crore to be undertaken over the next five years has been released.

"Under the ambitious project, the government will create 67,000 metric tonne CA Storage Capacity enabling the farmers to store their produce for better returns," an official statement said.

In addition to enhancing crop quality, the government has taken various tangible efforts to enhance agricultural and horticulture production, with a special emphasis on post-harvesting management infrastructure, notably in the private sector.

The UT administration has started a Rs 46.65 crore 'Promotion of Beekeeping' initiative as part of HADP to treble honey output over the next five years.

The UT government has authorised a Rs 176 crore initiative to improve output in order to make fish farming a profitable industry.

"The milk production is expected to reach 45 lakh MTs from 25 lakh MTs over the next 5 years and will be achieved through a range of measures, including expansion of breeding coverage and increasing per animal productivity," the statement said.

"One of the key elements of the dairy sector under the HADP project is to increase per-animal productivity from 2,400 litre to 4,300 litre, which is a significant increase. This will be achieved through a range of interventions, including the expansion of Artificial Insemination (AI) centres from 1,389 to 2,189."