Globally, the rise in population sends people pouncing upon uncultivated land to squeeze food for themselves but ironically, it is a reverse trend here in Jammu and Kashmir as people obnoxiously are hell-bent over replacing cultivable land by concrete structures of least developmental value to the economy of the state. It is the insensitive attitude and non-seriousness of cultivators as well as the lack of concern on part of the government including the couple of agricultural universities in Kashmir and Jammu which are responsible for this agrarian mess the state is in.
J&K’s peculiar geographic location and climatic conditions make it ideal for the growth of foods of highest quality. Take, for instance, the ‘Kashmiri rice’ grown here or for that matter the Basmati rice grown in certain Jammu regions. The stuff that grows here is priceless. The varieties of rice that arrive here from other states at highly exorbitant prices, are no match to our indigenous varieties. But it is nevertheless bought and consumed here, because our local produce is too little to feed us.
On its part, government also shares a lot of blame, for it has not accorded agriculture kind of priority it deserved and nothing much has been done to popularize it and develop it on scientific lines. But having said this, it also remains an uncomfortable reality that people of the state, and ironically mostly the rural-folk have been running only after the government jobs. Although there is nothing wrong in people with farming background taking to some other jobs, but often this comes at the cost of agriculture. No wonder one of the major problems confronting us is the transformation of our agrarian agricultural lands into concrete jungles. This was, and is bound to happen because when farmer’s children opt for some other jobs other than farming, the agricultural land of the family gets automatically relegated into a material piece of property. This land is then sold off, even if for a fortune, but it very rarely gets recycled into a state wherein it would again contribute to production of food.
Fact of the matter remains that Jammu and Kashmir desperately lags behind in agriculture and allied sectors so much so that the it is not able to fulfill its own needs of food. Doubtlessly the economic condition of the UT is very precarious and agriculture is the sector that could bail it out. But this is possible only if the people, and the educated young lot in particular, also start thinking of agriculture and related sectors as a sphere of activity to opt for a career in. As of now, this doesn’t seem to be happening.
