Srinagar: The Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM) has successfully initiated the cultivation of several tulip varieties at the Centre of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) field station in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.
“The cultivation of the highly valued ornamental crop marks a significant achievement as it is the first time that CSIR IIIM Jammu’s field station in Bonera, Pulwama, has undertaken the trial basis cultivation of multiple tulip cultivars,” an official of the CSIR said here.
He said that under the initiative, eight distinct varieties of tulips are in full bloom in the sprawling field station.
“The initiative aims to develop and standardise agro-technologies for mass-producing quality tulip bulbs in open field conditions, leveraging the favourable agro-climatic conditions of the Kashmir valley to enhance income generation for farmers through cut flower as well as bulb production for sustainable production of planting material,” the official said.
Dr Zabeer Ahmed, the director of CSIR IIIM Jammu, who inaugurated the experimental tulip field said that under the CSIR Floriculture Mission, the institute has been hand-holding farmers, self-help groups, florists, nursery growers and agri-entrepreneurs for production, value addition and trade of the different cut, loose and ornamental crop cultivars for alleviating their poor economic status and overall development of the remunerative agrarian sector.
“Since the launch of the mission in 2020 more than 2000 farmers across different districts of J&K have been benefited through various verticals of the mission,” he said.