Over the years, many female farmers in Kashmir have taken up agriculture and farming, making strides with their hard work and dedication. These progressive farmers have defied odds and social taboos while creating avenues not only for themselves but for other women as well.
Among these achievers is Masrat Kawsar, a successful integrated farmer who started growing different kinds of vegetables in 2017 in two villages of Lalpora and Mahyen in Tangmarg area.
Hailing from Bandipora she started growing vegetables in the area under greenhouses. She produces organic and high quality cucumber, bell peppers, hybrid tomatoes etc. in nearly 50 kanals of land.
She has named it Gulmarg Valley Farm (GVF). Today, after years of hard work the farm has not only provided a source of livelihood for her but is a source of employment to ten other women.
In 2017, she first started growing cut flowers then shifted to agriculture.
Masarat said that introducing pickles (Tehi Mixed Pickles), which is made here (Kashmir) with products grown here, is just one small step towards the bigger aim of her cluster.
“As a Natural Vegetable Grower, I just want the people to realise the importance of growing and making products without the use of any synthetic or harmful substances,” she said.
She has been appreciated for her work and felicitated at the national as well as state level. She has set an example for other farmers to follow.
“I wanted to empower women who are interested in home based ventures but needed some kind of help. Most of the employees with me are women and I believe in women empowerment. That is the reason I chose agriculture as an avenue,” she said.
Her farm unit also gives training to local farmers especially women about how to grow organic vegetables that Masrat grows in her farm.
“Kashmir has a tradition of mandi system but I don’t prefer that. I believe in retail marketing in which fresh vegetables reach directly to consumer within short time,” she said.
Notably, Masrat’s successful farming has made her Kisan Welfare Board Member. Besides that she is also a board member of SKUAST-K.
Masrat with his exemplary efforts in scientific farming continues to script success. She has made great difference to agriculture by emerging as a highly successful organic farmer.
She said choosing agripreneurship wasn’t an easy decision as she had not seen any successful farmer in the vicinity be an example or encouragement source.
Chaspeeda Bano is another farmer from Palhalan village in Baramulla district whose interest in agriculture and hard labour made her a progressive woman farmer.
She started growing different vegetables on 8 kanals of land some seven years ago and has been earning livelihood through it. Chaspeeda grows organic vegetables and is an established progressive farmer.
She produces at least 150 quintals of tomatoes every year which has helped her to improve her financial condition and has become an example for other farmers in the village.
Chaspeeda, a mother of two children, also has a greenhouse that helps her to grow vegetables. On average she annually earns nearly Rs 4 lakh for their agriculture produce.
Many farmers and youth visit her farm to take a glimpse of her success and many have followed her footsteps. Her interest in agriculture and hard labour made her a progressive woman farmer.
Another such women farmer is Shameema Bano, of Fakir Gujri area of Srinagar. She grows different kinds of vegetables in her two kanals farm like beans, leafy vegetables, carrots, turnips and other locally preferred vegetables.
Once the harvest season comes 55-year-old Shameena then sells the produce to the local shopkeepers making her living. With the help of the money she gets from the vegetables, she easily manages her daily family expenses.
She is among many farmers who were trained at Agriculture College of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST- K).
“It was only after the training that I took part in farming activities. I make my livelihood out of the three kanals of land,” she said. Wife of a labour, she is known for her unique farming techniques in her village.
The successful farmer said that they will not leave the farming and they love to do it that too in the village where the land is available. A multi-tasking woman Shameena has also trained the village women in arts and handicrafts.
Another woman is Syed Tabasum, an agripreneur, who runs a spice packaging unit and takes the locally grown produce from farmers like chilli and makes quality products out of it.
Tabasum , a resident of Natipora Srinagar, said before setting up her unit she also took in the training at SKUAT-K which helped and motivated her to start the initiative.
“It was with the help of training at SKUAST that I was able to set up my unit. When I established the unit they are helped in marketing of the products,” she said.
Tabsum said when she started the unit she struggled a lot. However, the 40-year-old didn’t lose hope she continued to chase her goal and worked hard even after facing the loss due to 2014 floods.
Apart from spices she also manufactures eco-friendly bags out of jute the material of which she brings from outside Kashmir. At her unit she provides employment to eight people. “I am very specific about the eco-friendly bags since the polythene causes pollution,” she said.
Tabasum said there is a lot of scope in agriculture adding it is a good choice for the unemployed youth. “My message to youth is that they can also start from their own farms,” she said.
The list of women farmers is too long. Somia Sadaf is another progressive farmer hailing from frontier district Kupwara in north Kashmir who has set up a successive dairy farm, poultry farm, a fish pond, besides provides training to young unemployed women and youth.
Actually from Muzaffarabd Pakistan, Somia was married at Batargam Kupwara in 2002. Soon after her marriage, she took many initiatives along with her husband Abdul Majeed and became a progressive farmer and entrepreneur.
She started thinking about establishing a business in 2011. She applied for a dairy farm under NRLM scheme in 2016 and started with one cow. With her hard work she developed it to 16 cows in 2018.
Her dairy was the first dairy farm in Kupwara district when she established it. Today, she owns 10 Holliston Friesan and Jersey cows and today produces nearly 40 kgs of milk each day that she sells locally. She uses machine milking is to extract milk from the cow by vacuum.
The 38-year-old woman has also established a poultry farm for which she got good help from the KVK Kupwara that gave her 200 Keystone Golden birds that produce eggs.
Her marketing plan includes selling products at Kisan Melas hosted by SKUAST Kashmir as well as supplying milk to nearby hotels and neighbours and eggs to neighbourhood clients.
The multi-tasking women and mother of four children is also associated with agriculture as her family owns 25 kanals of irrigation land.
Notably, she has also established a fish pond near her kitchen garden. The pond which she also established under NRLM has 250 fish. She is yet to sell her first fish produce.
Somia who has done MA in Urdu has also given instruction in the scientific raising and management of cows. She keeps herself up to date about new technologies regarding the maintenance of her land and the marketing of milk.
“Women should come out and take initiative. They can go into any field and start any kind of business. They have to be consistent, committed and work hard,” she said.
In June 2018, she also interacted with Prime Minister Narendra Modi through videoconferencing and represented Jammu and Kashmir.
Over the course of her entrepreneurial venture, her family has consistently supported her. “Support from the family is highly commendable when it comes to managing and feeding cows,” she said.
Few years back, she was nominated for a national award. She has received district, state, national level and National Rural Livelihood Mission-related certifications, medals, prizes, nominations, and recognition as a successful woman entrepreneur.
Apart from that she also takes part in training programs as a resource person. She has also contested the maiden District Development Council (DDC) elections in 2020 from Kupwara.
