Bandipora, Mar 10: Director Extension of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Professor Dil Mohammad Makhdoomi on Friday said that Gurez will get Potato machines soon to tackle the market challenge.
In an exclusive interaction with Rising Kashmir on sidelines of Integrated Farming System training program here at Krishi Vigyan Kendra(KVK) Bandipora, Makhdoomi said that SKUAST-K will grant self-employment to the Gurez locals by supplying potato chip-making machines, thus assisting in the development of a viable market for potato production and addressing the marketing issue.
He further said that given the high rate of potato cultivation in Gurez, the Kala Zeera is fully organic, and could lead to the creation of a potato chips market with a zeera flavor, thereby providing a solution to the marketing issues at hand, and creating new employment opportunities.
He further noted that they are developing marketing techniques for the farmers, and are in contact with packaging firms, so farmers can sell their goods online.
On being asked how an integrated farming system can benefit farmers, Makhdoomi said that it is an environment-friendly method in which one enterprise’s waste is reused as another enterprise’s input, thus optimizing the farm’s resources.
By implementing a recycling system for wastes, we can reduce our reliance on external high-energy inputs, thus conserving natural and scarce resources. Furthermore, the farming system provides a steady source of income to farmers by way of the sale of eggs, edible mushrooms, milk, honey, silkworm cocoons, etc, providing resource-poor farmers with a way to escape the clutches of moneylenders and agencies, he added.
