Organic Vegetable Farming

Administrative Intervention:
Organic Farming has been gaining currency all over the world as it is being considered vital to the concept of sustainable development. Agriculture Department in Kupwara has introduced organic farming of vegetable initially on 15 Hectare land after launching extensive IEC campaigns to convince the Farmers to limit the use of synthetic inputs and instead use organic fertilizers, crop residues, organic farm waste and Animal manures. Additional support has been provided through Vermi-Compost Units for production of organic fertilizers and marketing of the produce through Refrigerated Vans.

Human Endeavour:
Huseena Begum, Wife of Mohd Shafi was running a small hotel on rented building in village Hyhama and living a simple and hard life. On being introduced to the concept of organic farming, she started vegetable cultivation to cater to the daily requirements of her hotel. Narrating her experience, she says “I borrowed Rs 60,000 from my husband as operating expenses for the hotel out of which I spent Rs 18000 for purchasing seeds for the vegetable farm. I sought guidance from Agriculture Department to maintain the farm under constant supervision and reaped 18 Quintals of vegetables including Squash, Beans, Cabbage, Tomato and Garlic which I could sell for Rs 1 Lakh thus earning a bumper profit”.
Hasseena Begum is now happy with her output of vegetable cultivation and now owns her hotel building namely Al Noor Hotel. She also leads a self-help group of 25 women engaged in organic farming in Hyhama.

Outcome for the district:
The Area under organic farming of vegetables has grown from 15 ha to 85 ha spread across 5 villages with enthusiastic participation of farmers, has been Hatmulla-Deedikoot certified as Model Organic Village by PGS India in Dec 2019 thereby opening doors to national markets and better prices for the local vegetables.