It started in 2012 when farmer Imtiyaz Ahmad Wani started vegetable farming, and after a decade, he has become an award-winning progressive farmer and an inspiration for fellow farmers.
A resident of Paith Makhama, in Budgam district, Wani said he was unemployed and wanted to do something to earn livelihood and turned his eight kanals of land into vegetable farming. He said earlier, his family used the same land for maize farming.
The farmer grows different vegetables like radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, peas, beans, chilies, etc. Annually he earns Rs 4 lakh and involves all his family members in farming.
Imtiyaz took agriculture as a challenge and worked hard to grow vegetables and used greenhouses for making seedlings, and brought some new agricultural equipment.
“We have six greenhouses in which we grow vegetables round the year. Initially, we used to grow vegetables in the summer season only, but when we started greenhouses, which were given by the Floriculture Department, we were able to increase the produce,” he said.
The greenhouses developed by him have helped to grow vegetables year-round which was impossible earlier due to the limited summer season.
He also uses an agro shade net that provides adequate protection to the crops from a wide array of foreign elements such as pests, insects, rodents, etc. The 37-year-old farmer sends the agricultural produce to Parimpora fruit mandi annually. He has received training in floriculture and agriculture in Kashmir and outside J&K.
Read more at risingkashmir.com