*Project to create 4700 enterprises, generate employment for 47000 persons
Govind Sharma
JAMMU, Jan 1: For holistic development of Agriculture and allied sectors in Jammu and Kashmir, Agriculture Production Department (APD) will establish 1100 Hi-Tech and 3584 low cost Polyhouses in the Union Territory in next five years under its project titled “Promotion of Vegetables/ Exotic Vegetables under Open and Hi-Tech Protected Cultivation” which shall create around 4700 enterprises and provide gainful round the year employment for about 47000 persons.
Official sources told Excelsior that under the Project, a major change is brewing in the Vegetable sector of J&K through a precision farming intervention which will double the gross output of vegetables from Rs 3982.50 crores to Rs 8021.25 crores per year. They disclosed that the intervention which shall be carried out over the next five years by the APD shall involve a project cost of Rs 420 crores.
As per sources, the Project also undertakes intensifying vegetable cultivation through design, manufacturing and establishment of new and improved region-specific Hi-Tech structures with automation. This shall facilitate cultivation of high value vegetables and exotic crops like broccoli, brussels sprouts, asparagus, lettuce, red cabbage, Chinese cabbage, parsley, celery, cherry tomato etc. which have great demand in domestic and foreign markets as well as tourism industry.
“Under the Project, 1100 Hi-Tech protected structures over an area of 55 hectares will be established to produce 59.40 thousand metric tons of high-value and exotic vegetables valued at Rs 409 crores and to overcome dearth or non-availability of high-quality planting material, low cost protected structures in the form of 3584 polyhouses over another 55 hectares will be established complementing vegetable nursery production to capitalizing the early vegetable growing season and enhancing cropping intensity,” they revealed.
“Promotion of Vegetables/Exotic Vegetables under Open and Hi-Tech Protected Cultivation” is one among the 29 projects, which were approved by the J&K Administration after being recommended by the UT Level Apex Committee for holistic development of Agriculture and allied sectors in J&K.
Sources further disclosed that the Agriculture Department in collaboration with SKUAST-Kashmir shall be implementing this project, with the objective to resolve currently increasing vegetable deficit problem in J&K with a major focus on exporting high value exotics, besides supporting indigenous tourism industry where such vegetables are much sought after. “The Project shall create around 4700 enterprises and provide gainful year-round employment for 47,250 persons,” they added.
“Under the Project, identification of beneficiaries and cluster formation shall be achieved after proper planning followed by Land Development, identification of specific vegetable crops for specific areas, besides off-season vegetables can be exported to other states taking advantage of natural temperate climatic conditions fetching premium prices for our farmers”, sources said.
They said that the vegetable production plan shall be in tight consonance with market requirements, transport and linkage value chains, through signing of MoUs with Private (National/Multinational) Fresh Vegetable Retail Outlets and Public Sector Undertakings (Agro-Industries & JKHPMC). A huge stress is also being given on training of entrepreneurs for successful business venture in JK, they added.
When contacted, Atal Dulloo said, “Commercial vegetable farming has been identified as a key tool in achieving economic prosperity of the farming community through a significant income boost and the APD has laid a great emphasis on commercial production of local and exotic vegetables”. He further said that J&K had a unique advantage as compared to the rest of the country in that it can undertake year-round cultivation of vegetables and can grow almost every vegetable crop, including exotic ones which are in high demand and have export potential.
“Presently, demand for vegetables in J&K is met by both domestic vegetable production to the tune of 1991.25 thousand metric tons worth Rs 3982.50 crores and imports of another 318.26 metric thousand tons valued at Rs 636.52 crores annually. The quality of imported vegetables in terms of nutritional value and freshness however, gets affected due to long transportation and perishable nature of the produce,” said Chowdhary Iqbal, Director Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Kashmir, who is implementing the Project in collaboration with SKUAST.
From SKUAST-K, Dr Khurshid Hussain (Assistant Professor, Vegetable Sciences), who co-drafted the project proposal, said that with the proposed new cultivation over a net area of 5000 hectares, vegetable industry in J&K under open field conditions would produce about 360 thousand metric tons annually worth Rs 720 crores at current price.
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