NO ENCOURAGEMENT

Kashmir valley is the best place for organic farming but the efforts are very little from the concerned wings of the government including the researchers to give it a boost.

In most of the villages unemployed educated youth have started organic farming at their own level but the agriculture department of Kashmir is trying to take the credit of such efforts without doing anything practical for them to encourage such youth.

The Agriculture Department and SKUAST Kashmir have been issuing statements to the media claiming that they have been at the forefront to help the villagers and the youth to switch over to organic farming. But recent media reports both in print and in the news channels have contradicted such claims of the agriculture department and SKUAST Kashmir.

Scientists of SKUAST Kashmir have failed to transfer their research from their labs to the fields in Kashmir and most of their claims remain within the camps of their university at Shalimar. Similarly officers of agriculture department are quick to take credit of any effort by any villager or unemployed youth for the organic farming and when these youth are approached by the media they have different stories to tell which speak of callous behavior by the officers of agriculture department and by the officers of SKUAST Kashmir.

In this game changing effort, it is the hard work of unemployed youth to stand on their own and even the government agencies failed to provide them any market for their produce and are left to look for the markets themselves resulting in huge losses to them.

The government agencies instead of trying to steal credit should try to go to the villages and identify the youth who are ready to stand of their own and encourage them by providing quality seed, and other equipment to them without forcing them to come to their offices for months.