Shazia Ambreen Farming
In many ways, the ongoing Coronovirus pandemic that wracked havoc across the world has come as a blessing in the world and especially in Kashmir. With over one third world population forced to stay indoors to avoid community spread of the virus, it triggered the massive fears of the food crisis in the world. The United nations even warned that scores of developing countries may face the scarcity of food in the coming times since the pandemic had put the world at grinding halt. The warning has pushed all the countries to think over to become self-reliant in food requirements and reduce the dependence on other countries. In India, the Prime Minster Narender Modi also asked people to seize this golden opportunity and work towards self-reliance (Aatmanirbhar) goal.
As this initiative was taken across the country, the Baramulla district in north Kashmir takes a lead in Union territory. The sizable crowds could be spotted in the orchids and fields cultivating fruits and crops of different varieties.
“This is for the first time in my life that I see people leaving not an iota of land without cultivating crops, vegetables, and fruits,” says Mohammad Amin, a government employee who has been actively been part of his family in extending the size of his kitchen garden to grow more varieties of vegetables.
All these years, Amin has never been interested in agriculture activities. But he learnt from the pandemic and believed one shall be self-sufficient at least to feed his family.
“I had never thought in my life that I will ever be growing vegetables and fruits at home. I was predominantly depending on the market for the daily needs and essentials, but the threat of possible food crisis in the world followed by the economic meltdown has provoked me for agrarian activities,” he adds.
This is perhaps for the first time in Kashmir that in absence of non-locals, the agrarian activities have been witnessed at this large scale. in Kashmir, normally the farming was the job of non-locals from Bihar and West Bengal until last year.
With locals showing interest in farming and cultivating crops at a massive scale, the agriculture department in Baramulla decided to provide the hybrid and exotic seeds to the farmers.
“1665 quintals of High Yielding Variety (HYV) of paddy, 650 quintals of maize, 3.15 quintals of sweet corn seeds, 2.62 quintals of vegetable seeds, the establishment of model orchards and nurseries of kiwi, grapes and walnut are among many other varieties of seeds distributed among the farmers, said the official in Baramulla agriculture department.
The state administration boosted the initiative and urged other districts to follow the trend in an order to make people self-reliant amid tough times.
The assistance was aimed to help the farmers to boost their local income.
The official data suggested further that about 1665 quintals of High Yielding Variety (HYV) of paddy has been distributed among the farmers of Baramulla district. “These varieties include SR3, SR4, SR5 besides about 650 quintals of maize which comprised 550 quintals of hybrid variety and 100 quintals of composite variety”.
Kashmir is an agrarian region with lush green fields and countless water springs besides other sources of irrigation facilities. However, sue to over 4.5 lakh people being employed directly by Jammu and Kashmir government followed by potential apple cash crop, the interest for the farming was dwindling systemically. The easy availability of cash has over the years from being a self-sufficient region to predominantly a consumer Union Territory. With the substantial change in the world economy owing to an ongoing pandemic, the people seem to have decided to return to farming to supplement their income.
The agriculture department has also taken lead in distributing farm machinery and other equipment by distributing farming items involving subsidy of Rs 7 crore which include tractors, tillers, weeders, power sprayers, brush cutters, IP sets, etc. The department has also provided 30 bore wells having a subsidy component of Rs 2 lakh on each besides 100 dug wells with an element of subsidy under the micro-irrigation programme.
The agriculture department has also played an active role in disseminating awareness and educating farmers with regard to the introduction of new and latest farming techniques. It has organized various awareness camps, seminars, and other programmes in different areas of the district aimed at reaching the farmers with modern and scientific know-how for leveraging productivity which has been largely appreciated by the farming community of Baramulla district.
The horticulture department has also initiated several welfare measures to benefit farmers and orchardists like the establishment of model orchards and nurseries of kiwi, grapes, and walnut at Salamabad and Bagh-i-Sundri. It has also sowed 09 quintals of walnut at different departmental nurseries of the district. About 11675 grafts have been carried out at different nurseries on different fruit crops besides 28219 cuttings/runners have been planted in these nurseries. The department has also imported 611745 high-density apple rootstocks which have been subsequently planted in different departmental nurseries of the district.
For awareness generation, the office has also made productive use of social media platforms and created about 20 WhatsApp groups to redress grievances and issues of farmers on a daily basis while as the department has mobilized its field functionaries at zonal and district levels who have conducted field visits to provide on-spot technical guidance to farmers
