SRINAGAR: The Director of Agriculture Kashmir, Chowdhury Mohammad Iqbal today inaugurated ‘Community Seed Bank Lar’ at sub-division Kangan, district Ganderbal under the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP).
He also inaugurated a low-cost poly greenhouse in zone Wussan (sub-division Kangan), under the promotion of the vegetable and exotic vegetables programme.
Speaking to farmers, the Director of Agriculture highlighted the economic importance of exotic vegetables. He asked the farmers that amidst the decreasing agricultural land due to urbanization and other reasons, the prospects for the cultivation of exotic vegetables have increased manifold.
He asked the farmers, agri-preneures to take benefit of the special, suitable agro-climatic conditions of the region and adopt the cultivation of exotic vegetables (parsley, broccoli, lettuce, mint, celery, purple cauliflower and yellow zucchini etc) at their farms and earn maximum returns for their produce. The demand for these vegetables in Kashmir is high and is increasing day by day, he added.
Director Agriculture said that with the increase in tourist footfall in Kashmir the demand for exotic vegetables also increased, as tourists prefer vegetables that are familiar to them.
Iqbal impressed upon the officers to organize awareness programmes for farmers, and aware them of the scope of vertical expansion, exotic vegetable cultivation and promotion of scale agri-cottage industries like Apiculture and Mushroom. He said that under HADP different projects are under implementation for the promotion of all these enterprises.
