The 'Promotion of Vegetables/Exotic Vegetables under Open and Hi-Tech Protected Cultivation' project is one of 29 approved by the Jammu and Kashmir administration after being recommended by the UT Level Apex Committee for holistic development of Agriculture and Allied Sectors in J-K.
"Commercial vegetable farming has been identified as a key tool in achieving economic prosperity of the farming community through a significant income boost," said Atal Dulloo, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), APD. He went on to say that J&K has a distinct advantage over the rest of the country in that it can cultivate vegetables all year and grow almost every vegetable crop, including exotic ones that are in high demand and have export potential.
The prestigious committee is headed by Dr Mangala Rai, Former DG ICAR and has other luminaries in the field of Agriculture, Planning, Statistics & Administration like Ashok Dalwai, CEO NRAA, Dr. P. K Joshi, Secretary, NAAS, Dr. Prabhat Kumar, Horticulture Commissioner MOA & FW, Dr. H. S Gupta, Former Director, IARI, Atal Dulloo, ACS, APD, apart from the Vice Chancellors of the twin Agriculture Universities of the UT.
Currently, Jammu and Kashmir's vegetable demand is met by both domestic vegetable production of 1991.25 thousand metric tonnes worth Rs 3982.50 crores and imports of another 318.26 metric thousand tonnes worth Rs 636.52 crores per year. "In terms of nutritional value and freshness, the quality of imported vegetables.
"Domestic production of vegetables offers tremendous scope to make available fresh and nutritionally superior vegetables to the population at lower prices than current inflated prices," said Dr. Khurshid Hussain, Assistant Professor, SKUAST-K. He added that with the proposed new cultivation over a net area of 5,000 hectares, the vegetable industry in J&K would produce approximately 360 thousand metric tonnes annually, valued at Rs 720 crores at current prices.
"Under the project, beneficiary identification and cluster formation will be achieved after proper planning, followed by Land Development, and 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," Dr Hussain said.
The project aims to increase vegetable production by designing, manufacturing, and establishing new and improved region-specific-tech structures with automation. This will make it easier to cultivate high-value vegetables and exotic crops such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, lettuce, red cabbage, Chinese cabbage, parsley, celery, cherry tomato, and so on, which are in high demand in domestic and international markets, as well as the tourism industry.
The project will establish 1100 Hi-Tech protected structures over a 55-hectare area to produce 59.40 thousand metric tonnes of high-value and exotic vegetables valued at Rs. 409 crores. To address the scarcity or non-availability of high-quality planting material, low-cost protected structures in the form of 3584 playhouses will be established over an additional 55 hectares, complementing vegetable nursery production and enhancing cropping intensity. Research and development for new varieties and production technologies is essential in bringing about this revolutionary change in the vegetable production scenario.
The agriculture department, in collaboration with SKUAST-Kashmir, will carry out this project, with the goal of resolving J&K's current vegetable deficit problem, with a particular emphasis on exporting high-value exotics, as well as supporting the indigenous tourism industry, where such vegetables are in high demand.
