Budgam witnessing drastic decline in paddy cultivation
Mir Arshid
BUDGAM, Sep 20: The Budgam district has witnessed a drastic decline in rice cultivation for the last three years due to conversion of agricultural land into orchards.
“Apple gets more returns than rice,” Mohammad Ali a farmer at Budgam told Kashmir Despatch, adding that after putting in so much effort, the income generated from rice sale would barely meet the expenses of his family.
According to official records shared by Agriculture Department Director Iqbal Ahmed Choudhry, the area under paddy cultivation is decreasing every year while the yield is increasing. “From 1,62,309 hectares in 2012-13, the area under paddy cultivation decreased to 1,34,067 hectares in 2021-22,” he said.
Explaining the anomaly between the decreasing area under cultivation and rising yield, Choudhry said, “Earlier seeds were less productive than the recent ones, whose yield is almost double now.”
While speaking to Dr Irshat Nabi an Agriculture expert told the Kashmir Despatch that no one is looking for paddy cultivation as people are fast switching to another horticulture business. “Farmers don’t need to focus on a single crop as there is up and down in the market. Farmers need to concentrate on multiple crops.”
He added: “We are heading towards a food security challenge.” He stressed that the Department of Agriculture has imported several traditional varieties in order to get more produce. “We have introduced several varieties like SR 4 that are doing well in production,” said Dr Ishrat Nabi.
