Asiya Bashir, a not-so-common Kashmiri girl, fought all odds and became a successful dairy farmer and has ever looked back since she decided to become an entrepreneur in order to support her family financially.
For Asiya, a graduate and resident of village Chiraath in Shopian, the Department of Animal Husbandry Shopian has become a source of assistance in realising her ambition of establishing a dairy farm under the department's Integrated Dairy Development Scheme (IDDS).
After two years of successfully operating the farm, Asiya now has 12 cows, of which 06 cows are producing milk and producing 90 to 100 litres per day through the Jammu and Kashmir Milk Producers Cooperative Limited.
She is maintaining her own means of livelihood satisfactorily. She credits her achievement to the Agency of Animal Husbandry Shopian, noting that the department has provided her with numerous services such as feed and fodder, veterinary services, training, and so on.
Her bucket type automated milking machine, Milk Cooler, and Genset were also donated by the Animal Husbandry Department Shopian. This has made large-scale commercial dairy farming more convenient for her.
Furthermore, Asiya is eager to implement number of new technologies that will allow her to reap greater benefits while reducing her inputs.
Owing to the experiences of the past few years, she considers dairying as a promising solution to the growing unemployment.
Asiya has served as an inspiration to local youth, and the dairy farm has substantially helped the family's financial position. She also enjoys the support of her family in carrying out the business enterprise.
Despite playing an important part throughout history and standing toe-to-toe with men, women never really received much credit for it. But Asiya has proved has left this notion far behind and is a perfect example of women empowerment.
