Srinagar, May 22: The stalls of different varieties of local vegetables and dry fruits set up by the Agriculture Department Kashmir and progressive farmers attracted the G20 delegates at the Sheri Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC), Srinagar on Monday.
The stalls of exotic, conventional, dried vegetables, saffron, mushroom, different kinds of rice varieties, honey and all the components and subcomponents of the crops grown in J&K and seeds were put on display to showcase the same to G20 delegates.
As the delegates were inspecting the stalls, the local vegetables and other products on the stalls attracted their attention and many of the delegates purchased many products including pulses.
Khursheed Ahmad Bhat, a progressive farmer from Narkara area of Budgam had set up a stall of different agriculture products like Zera, Rajma Dal, Honey etc. and it caught the attention of delegates from different countries across the globe.
“The delegates visited the stalls and saw many local products like honey, Rajma Dal and they were really impressed by the local produce that was on display,” he said.
Bhat said many of the delegates, who are on a three-day visit to Kashmir, purchased many products bringing cheers to the farmers.
“I sold 80 percent of the products that were put on my stall. We will bring new products tomorrow. I had not expected this much of sale. I sold many products to delegates from the U.S., Canada and Japan,” the farmer said.
The farmer said the G20 event will help to send the produce to international market.
“We have already sent the agriculture produce to the Gulf countries in the past two years and this event is an opportunity to push it further so that its demand is increased to benefit the farmers. It will also push tourism,” he said.
Shazia, a progressive and integrated farmer from Pulwama, who has been tasked to be at SKICC said the event will boost the farming community and highlight the agriculture produce at the international level platforms.
Shazia is an award-winning integrated farmer and recipient of the Progressive Farmer Award which was given to her by the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir last year.
“This is a big event and we have never seen such an event before. Once we get the international market, our economy will be boosted and the farmers will get the benefit,” she said.
Director Agriculture Kashmir, Chowdhary Muhammad Iqbal said all exotic, organic and conventional vegetables have been displayed so that the delegates across the world can see the crops that are grown in Kashmir.
“The climatic conditions of Jammu and Kashmir are unique across India. We have both tropical and sub-tropical, temperate conditions and that is the opportunity for us to grow every crop. The vegetables grown in temperature below 35 degree have high nutrients making it tasty,” he said.
“We want to showcase that we the farmers of UT Jammu and Kashmir are number one in the world. It will benefit the farmers to grow more produce and help to capture the national and international market and it will help to increase the demand,” Iqbal said.
