Dr. Banarsi Lal
Agriculture is the backbone of Jammu and Kashmir State and this sector provides employment directly or indirectly to around 70 per cent of the state population. Agriculture contributes about 65 per cent of the state revenue which signifies the overdependence of the state on agriculture. The total geographical area of this state is 2, 22, 236 sq. km and its population is 1, 25, 48,926 (Census 2011). Jammu and Kashmir is a mountainous state in which Jammu region is predominantly sub-tropical while Kashmir and Ladakh regions are temperate. The average size of land holding of the state is only 0.67 hectare against 1.33 hectares’ land holding size on national basis. Jammu and Kashmir is a mountainous state in which about 30 per cent of the area is under cultivation. This sector contributes about 65 per cent of the state revenue which signifies the dependency of the state on agriculture. Jammu and Kashmir is located between 32.17 and 37.06 North latitude and 73.2 and 80.36 East longitude in the Himalayan region.The agro-diversity of the state varies from sub-tropical in Jammu region, temperate in Kashmir region and cold arid in Ladakh region. The average annual rainfall of these three regions is 1069mm,660mm and 80-90mm respectively. The average temperature of these three regions are 24.5,13.3&5.3 Centigrade respectively. There is dire need to increase the income and employment in agriculture and allied sectors for the farmers in the state.This is possible to increase the production and productivity of the crops and to enable the farmers to diversify their crop production.By adopting the modern technologies in agriculture and establishing the infrastructure for the farm production.There is need to promote the diversificationin agriculture and move towards high value crops like vegetables,aromatic and medicinal plants, saffron, mushroom,beekeeping, silkworms, pulsesetc. The state is endowed with ample natural resources including soil, water, climatic condition, diversity, topography, rich natural flora etc. which are conducive for the cultivation of a wide range of crops. It is matter of grave concern that the interest of younger generation in the state is dwindling towards agriculture.The state 58 per cent area under agriculture is rainfed and remaining 42 per cent is irrigated.Maize is first rank crop in the state occupying one-third of the total cropped area,rice at number second in 28.58 per cent area of gross cropped area and wheat at number three which covers around 26 per cent of the total cropped area.
In 2010-11 the food grain production of India for the year was 24156 thousand tonnes while it stands only 137.15 thousand tonnes in J&K reflecting a very low share of about 0.6 per cent. This trend is almost stagnated at around 0.6 to 0.7 per cent since a decade or so. It is pertinent to mention here that the food-grain production in J&K is not keeping pace with demand and there is a wide gap of about 5 lakh metric tonnes. The State is mostly relying on imports mainly from Punjab and Haryana accounts for Rs 1600 crores. One of the strong reasons for low yield is lack of adoption of modern agricultural technologies and most of the region of the state is rainfed. The net irrigated area in 1981-82 was 3.04 lakh hectares; it went up to 3.71 lakh hectares in 2008-2009 reflecting a very marginal increase even after three decades.
It is pertinent to mention here that the State could not qualify for National Food Security Mission (NFSM) – a flagship programme of Government of India. There is dire need of strenuous efforts to make agriculture more profitable and more income and employment can be generated among the farmers.
The horticulture sector in J&K accounts for 13 per cent of the net sown area but contributes 45 per cent of the state’s agricultural GDP. Around six lakh families comprising of 30 lakh people are directly or indirectly involved in horticulture trade. Horticulture sector helps in nutritional security, land productivity, employment, exports and farm incomes by offering a wide range of choice to the farmers for crop diversification. The varied agro-climatic zones in the state make it ideal to grow diverse high value horticultural crops. The forward and backward linkages offer tremendous potential for employment generation and rural upliftment in the state. Horticultural sector contributes immensely to strengthen the financial condition of Jammu and Kashmir. This is a core sector of Jammu and Kashmir agriculture and about 4.5 lakh families are engaged in it. Around 20 per cent area of the state is under horticultural crops. Horticultural sector contributes around 5000 crores to the annual income of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Among the horticultural crops in the state apple occupies the predominant position constituting around 45 per cent of the total area under fruit crops. Horticultural activities major thrust is given in hilly areas. The fruit crops grown in the state are almonds, walnuts, pears, cherries and apricots in temperate areas and mango, citrus, litchi, ber, papaya, guava etc. in subtropical areas. Saffron is the costliest spice of the world. Saffron cultivation in Jammu and Kashmir is unique in the world. The annual production of Saffron in Jammu and Kashmir ranges from 10 to 20 tonnes. The state government has made strenuous efforts to increase horticultural crops production. Incentives are given to the horticultural crops growers by the departments of the state to develop orchards in Kandi and hilly areas. Subsidy to the extent of 50% of fruit plants and inputs used by the farmer are provided. It has been observed that around 40 lakh tones of fruits are exported annually from the state. This sector contributes significantly to the economic and ecological development, employment generation, export and nutritional requirement of the people of state. Since Jammu and Kashmir is endowed with different agro-climatic conditions and topography, the scope for strengthening various commercial horticultural activities is enormous.
(To be continued)
