June 06 2006, Srinagar (PTI): Stating that the ban on the import of egg-laying chicken will continue, a Jammu and Kashmir Minister on Sunday urged officials to achieve self-sufficiency in meat and poultry production in two to three years.
The ban on buying hens from outside the State will continue in the larger public interest, Animal Husbandry Minister, Taj Mohiuddin, told a function here.
The goal of achieving self-sufficiency in meat and poultry production can be achieved only by increasing agriculture produce and productivity of livestock.
"We have to work hard so that we are not dictated to by others," he said.
About the stopping of poultry feed from Punjab over the past few weeks, Mohiuddin said Kashmir wanted cordial relations with neighbouring states, but this could not be a one-sided affair.
Kashmir Valley Poultry Farmers Association President Ghulam Mohammad Bhat led a demonstration here on May 27, alleging that Punjab's farmers had stopped supplying maize, soya bean, sunflower and other raw materials to Kashmir in retaliation against the State's decision to continue its ban on birds from outside the State.
