First Pre-SAC Meet of Ladakh KVKs Held Post-Merger; VC Calls for Unified Action Plan to Boost Regional Agriculture.

First Pre-SAC Meet of Ladakh KVKs Held Post-Merger; VC Calls for Unified Action Plan to Boost Regional Agriculture.
Kargil, May 15, 2026: A virtual Pre-Scientific Advisory Committee (Pre-SAC) meeting of the Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) of Ladakh was held under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Vice Chancellor of University of Ladakh, Professor Saket Kushwaha, at the meeting hall of Krishi Vigyan Kendra Kargil-I. The meeting marked the first Pre-SAC meeting conducted following the directions of the Hon’ble Vice Chancellor after the merger of KVKs with the University of Ladakh.
The meeting was attended by Professor Pankaj Sood, Associate Director Research, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishva Vidyalaya; Dr Maheshwar Singh, Professor of Vegetable Science, School of Agricultural Sciences & Technology, University of Ladakh, Dr Dorjay Namgyal, Dean, SAST Leh Campus; and Dr Faizan Ahmed, Dean, SAST Kargil Campus. Programme Coordinators of KVKs, Scientists, and Technical staff also participated in the meeting. Dr Mohd Mehdi Akhone, Coordinator KVKs of Ladakh moderated the meeting.
The meeting commenced with a welcome address by Dr. Mehdi Akhone, wherein he welcomed the Hon’ble Vice Chancellor of the University of Ladakh and all the participants. Thereafter, the Programme Coordinators of the respective KVKs presented the action plans for 2026–27, wherein detailed deliberations and discussions were held on the On-Farm Trials (OFTs) and Front-Line Demonstrations (FLDs) of technologies proposed to be tested at farmers’ fields.
Healthy discussions took place during the meeting, and valuable suggestions and feedback were put forward by the experts for further improvement of the OFTs and FLDs. Professor Pankaj Sood, who was invited as an outside expert, provided valuable suggestions regarding the management of Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia (CCPP) prevalent in Pashmina goats of the Changthang region. He also advised the house to incorporate gap analysis of the technologies proposed to be tested in farmers’ fields for better assessment and impact evaluation.
The Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, a stalwart in the field of agriculture, in his address to the house emphasized the need for a unified action plan for all the KVKs of Ladakh. He advised all the KVKs to work in tandem and adopt a collaborative approach to address the issues faced by farmers at the regional level. In his address to the house, he advocated for testing new technologies as per the need of the farmers of the region. He also emphasised convening micro-level meetings with scientists to chalk out strategies and policies to strengthen the agriculture sector in the region.
The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Nasreen Fatima, Senior Scientist and Head, KVK Kargil. She expressed her sincere gratitude to the Hon’ble Vice Chancellor for taking personal interest in conducting the first ever Pre SAC meeting. Special thanks were also extended to Professor Pankaj Sood for sparing his valuable time to participate in the meeting.