In Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha launched Market Intervention Scheme (MIS)-2020 for Apple growers at Horticulture Complex Raj Bagh in Srinagar today.<br />'' <br />''Speaking on the occasion, the Lieutenant Governor refuted the media reports and assured that no agricultural land would be alienated to any non-residents of J&K.<br />'' <br />''However, he added that non-agricultural land would be optimally utilized for industrial investment and employment opportunities.<br />'' <br />''The LG  said the objective of the newly launched MIS is to facilitate the stakeholders by providing optimum prices to the growers in the region during the peculiar situation arising out of COVID-19 pandemic.<br />'' <br />''The scheme will make way for procurement of 12 Lakh Metric Tonne of apples which will not only ensure profitability to the apple growers but at the same time, it will also create rural employment through supplementary services such as packaging, transportation. <br />'' <br />''Mr Sinha said that the Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister has also allowed NAFED to utilize Government Guarantee of Rs. 2,500 Crore and the losses, if any, to be incurred in this operation will be shared between the Central Government and UT administration of J&K on 50:50 basis.<br />'' <br />''The Lt Governor also called upon the farmers to set up Controlled Atmosphere Storage Plants with the help of 50% subsidy provided by the UT government. He underlined the importance for linking the UT's fruit and vegetable mandis to National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) Platform.<br />'' <br />''<span style="color: #222222;">Speaking on the Prime Minister's ambition on doubling the farmers' income, the Lt Governor laid special emphasis on promoting high density plantation of apples to increase the production in order to achieve three to four times returns for the growers.</span><br />