: Pioneering Kashmiri Farmer Helps 500 More Earn Rs 3 Lakhs per Hectare From Lavender #IndiaNEWS #Farming Think of Jammu and Kashmir and what comes to mind are the snow-capped Himalayan mountains.

Pioneering Kashmiri Farmer Helps 500 More Earn Rs 3 Lakhs per Hectare From Lavender #IndiaNEWS #Farming
Think of Jammu and Kashmir and what comes to mind are the snow-capped Himalayan mountains. But our northernmost union territory also holds the Dal lake, apple orchards, walnuts, mulberry, saffron, Chinar and Pine trees, roses and even tulips. Adding to this scenic beauty, since 2010 are the acres of lavender peeping from the hills as one drives through Doda, Kishtwar districts and Bhaderwah sub-district in J&K. The beauty of long stretches of land coloured ‘purple’ don’t fail to enamour you.

Until very recently, many knew lavender only as the soft shade to depict romance in photographs. Some can’t distinguish between the hue of purple and the lavender plant even today. For the majority, lavender is still a lighter shade of purple. What they don’t know is that lavender is a perennial shrub belonging to the mint family. Besides being an ornamental plant, it’s also an economically viable plant with a kilo of oil extracted from the flowers selling for upwards of Rs 10,000, mostly used in the aroma industry. The residue after the oil extraction is used to make agarbattis, soaps, etc.
And farmers in these regions feel as though they have struck gold. “Earlier we cultivated only maize and could hardly make Rs 2,500 per kanal [8 kanals=1 acre of land]. After cultivation of lavender, and selling the oil extracted from it, we make over Rs 15,000 per kanal every year,??? says 41-years-old Bharat Bhushan, who is a pioneer of sorts in large scale cultivation of lavender in this region. Though he started the trend way back in 2010, more than 500 farmers are following in his footsteps today.
Bharat Bhushan, a pioneer in large scale cultivation of lavender in Kashmir.
He explains that it’s very easy to cultivate this perennial crop which reaches a height of a mere 2-2. 5 ft. Once you plant it, you needn’t do anything for the next 15 to 16 years except to remove dried leaves and sometimes put organic manure. Another added advantage is that this crop isn’t attacked by animals like monkeys, rodents or others. Once the plant blooms, the flower stocks are cut, and the plant is ready to grow again in the next season.
However, there are no returns in the first two years, which initially had put off many farmers from harvesting lavender. But when they started observing the profits from the third year, they realised they were sitting on a goldmine. It’s one of the best cash crops in the world where a farmer with very less input can easily earn Rs 2,50,000 to Rs 3,00,000 per hectare, or nearly 20 kanals, annually. The land holding of farmers cultivating lavender in this region ranges from 20 kanals to 600 kanals.

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