Srinagar, July 06: Several farmers in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district are confident of a bumper crop after focussing on wheat farming.
Over the past several years, Sajad Ahmad, a resident of Magam, Handwara would only sow paddy in his 5 kanals of land. However, it was last year only that he thought of shifting to double crop.
“The prices of wheat flour have gone up over the years and people hardly sow wheat. I gave it a thought as to why not to sow and grow it,” he said.
“Bread is used twice in Kashmir. I gave it a thought as the land is also suitable for wheat. When I sowed the crop people responded with surprise and asked me why I sowed the wheat. But thankfully I got a good crop this year,” he said.
Sajad said earlier also people would sow wheat on land and people were self-sufficient however people shifted to maize, rajma and other crops.
He said that many farmers like him have taken to wheat farming and they have got good results. “They told me this is a good beginning and they will also do it,” he said.
Many farmers have been encouraged after they saw my Sajad’s produce and they are also interested to sow wheat and follow him.
“Now people are also interested in wheat and it has a good market value. Farmers also want that its production should be improved,” said Ghulam Hassan, another farmer.
Chief Agriculture Officer Kupwara, Ghulam Mohammad Dhobi said this year the Agriculture Department has taken many measures to further push wheat farming in the district.
“There was a clash as some varieties would ripe late in the summer season. The scientists of SKUAST-Kashmir are working on some new seed varieties for which trials are going. We also want farmers to sow only those varieties that are ready in June only and it would be followed by paddy,” he said.
It is expected that once the trails are done the farmers will have wheat varieties developed with significantly high yield. The chapati from the flour of this wheat also scores high on quality.
The CAO said there are some issues with wheat farming but the projects approved by the Jammu and Kashmir Government will uplift all the sectors of agriculture and horticulture.
“The government has approved 29 projects for the holistic development of agriculture and allied sectors and currently the activities for the farmers are underway,” he said.
“We have to make the farmers sound and double their economy. Now Kashmir’s agriculture is heading towards a positive direction and it will develop further in the future ten years,” the CAO said.
