The Director Agriculture Kashmir, Chowdhury Mohammad Iqbal today inaugurated ‘Community Seed Bank Lar’ at sub-division Kangan, district Ganderbal under Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP). He also inaugurated a low cost poly green house in zone wussan (sub-division Kangan), under the promotion of vegetable and exotic vegetables programme.
Speaking to farmers, Director Agriculture highlighted the economic importance of exotic vegetables. He asked the farmers that amidst the decreasing agricultural land due to urbanization and other reasons, the prospects for the cultivation of exotic vegetables has increased manifold.
He asked the farmers, agri-preneures to take benefits of the special, suitable agro-climatic conditions of the region and adopt the cultivation of exotic vegetables (parsley, broccoli, lettuce, mint, celery, purple cauliflower and yellow zucchini etc) at their farms and earn maximum returns for their produce.
The demand for these vegetables in Kashmir is high and is increasing day by day, he added.Director Agriculture said that with the increase in tourist footfall in Kashmir the demand for the exotic vegetables also increased, as tourists prefer vegetables that are familiar to them.
Iqbal impressed upon the officers to organize awareness programmes for farmers, and aware them regarding the scope of vertical expansion, exotic vegetables cultivation and promotion of small scale agri- cottage industries like Apiculture and Mushroom. He said that under HADP different projects are under implementation for the promotion of all these enterprises.