Valley becomes vegetable basket

After acquiring a monopoly in fruit production and sale across the country, Kashmir is now set to become the vegetable hub...

After acquiring a monopoly in fruit production and sale across the country, Kashmir is now set to become the vegetable hub of north India. This year, the quantity of vegetables that the Valley intends sending to north Indian states is set to cross 1.5 lakh metric tonnes, an all-time high since farmers took to growing vegetables in a big way.

“Seeing the trend and interest developing among the farmers and vegetable growers within a few years, the quantity of vegetables that will go out of the Valley will easily cross 10 lakh metric tonnes. In May this year, vegetables worth Rs 33 crore were sent to various states,” said Joint Director, Agriculture Extension, Virender Moza.

In Kashmir, over 27,000 hectares of land is under vegetable cultivation with Srinagar, Budgam and Pulwama emerging as major vegetable production zones. The floating gardens within the famous Dal Lake, too, make a good contribution. Officials and traders claim that vegetables from Kashmir are regularly dispatched to Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

“Green collard (hak), cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes, beans, onions, lotus stem (nadroo) are the most sought-after varieties of vegetables outside the state,” said vegetable exporter Bilal Ahmad, adding that the export fetches good money.

“Owing to the benefits, more and more people, especially youth, are showing interest in vegetable cultivation,” he said.

In the last five years, vegetable production has registered a 500 per cent growth. Moza said that while revenue from vegetable production was Rs 20 crore in 2003, this year’s revenue generation would be around Rs 200 crore.

The agriculture department has also played a vital role in providing expertise to the farmers.

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“Under the horticulture technology mission scheme, our department provided latest seeds to the farmers, besides giving them poly green houses and irrigation pumps at subsidised rates,” Moza said. “We are planning to bring more land under the vegetable expansion programme, without converting fruit orchards and paddy fields into vegetable gardens,” he added.

Abdul Gani Channa, who owns three big vegetable farms in Budgam district, said that more and more people are moving towards developing vegetable farms. “Earlier, Kashmiri people grew fruits in their orchards and farms. But after seeing good dividends, vegetable farming is becoming a lucrative business,” he said. Channa said that vegetable farming could provide employment to at least 1 lakh families in the next decade.