Srinagar, Dec 20: The productivity of paddy, considered a major crop in Jammu and Kashmir, has gone down considerably over the years despite the fact that government has pumped in crores of money by rolling out different schemes for land-upliftment, fertilisation and irrigation.
According to the official data reviewed by Rising Kashmir, the productivity of paddy has gone down in the last several years.
During the 2018-19, the paddy productivity was 2352.93 kilograms per hectare and in the subsequent 2019-20, productivity of paddy has decreased to 2095.32 kilograms per hectare, as per the data provided by Agriculture Production Department.
Similarly during 2020-21, the paddy productivity has gone down further to 2079.90 kilograms per hectare. During 2021-22 the productivity capacity has reached a new low of 1861.97 kilograms per hectare.
Similarly, the productivity of another crop, wheat which is widely cultivated in mountainous areas of Jammu and Kashmir has also gone down considerably from 2001.80 kilograms per hectare in 2019-20 to 1985.30 kilograms per hectare in 2021-22.
The figures cut a sorry state of affairs of the land productivity in Jammu and Kashmir union territory at a time the government has subscribed to the target (Sustainable Development Growth Index) to double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small scale farmers by 2030.
The Jammu and Kashmir economy is predominantly agriculture dependent and nearly 70 percent of the population is directly or indirectly engaged in agricultural and allied activities.
Director Agriculture Kashmir Choudhary Mohammad Iqbal said he will go through the report and can comment only after that.
