Farmer Abdul Rashid Mir from Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama has felt an extra beat of his heart since Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned that ‘Snow Peas’ crop sowed by Mir has been exported to London.
Hailing from village Chakoora, 12 km from Pulwama town in South Kashmir, Mir said all farmers associated with the crop are elated after the Prime Minister mentioned ‘snow peas’ during his “Mann Ki Baat” radio programme on Sunday. The crop has been a big hit in Europe.
“I have no words to express my joy after Prime Minister Modi mentioned the new Kashmir crop in the Mann Ki Baat and that too has been exported to foreign countries in great demand,” Mir told UNI.
In his monthly radio programme, Modi said Jammu and Kashmir achieved a big milestone when the first consignment of ‘snow peas’ was sent to London from Pulwama district last month.
The snow peas is an edible-pod pea with flat pods and thin pod walls. It is eaten whole, with both the seeds and the pod, while still unripened.
Mir said that a Delhi based “Next on Foods Private Limited Company” approached the farmers in village Chakoora and suggested providing a new variety of species peas seeds with high benefits for farmers.
He said the company even suggested that the crop has to be harvested before the seeds. They assured the prices would be satisfactory for the growers from the first to last drop.
“We started to sow the seeds that were provided by the company in November during the past several years in a limited area on trial basis”, Mir said and added “but the experts of the company who visited here after seeing the production suggested expanding the crop.”
He said the company representatives said that this crop has a tremendous demand in Europe and farmers will benefit.
“Accordingly the crop was sowed in around six square kilometers of the Chakora village including Malangpora, Quail, Wasur, Babgoam or chandgam and Neelora in November and in the end of March the crop was fully ready and farmers started harvesting,” Mir said.
Meanwhile, the company had also tied up with the local government here and the Director Agriculture Department helped us with required knowledge during this period.
Mir, however, rued lack of rain and snow during the winters as it affected the yield.
The company experts visited the village and picked up harvest from doorstep and the Director Agriculture provided the space for collecting it at a place in the district. “The Agriculture department also provided us with bore wells for watering the crop in case of drought conditions.”
“A container with over 20 quintal capacity was exported to Europe including London in April this year,” Mir said.
He claimed once the crop reached the European markets the demand rose exponentially.
Mir said that farmers are happy with the new crop and there has been no marketing issues as the company brought all facilities to their door step and at a good price. He urged other farmers to also adopt the new crop for great benefits.
“We are going to continue it and will insist other villagers to follow suit for their benefits and to increase its production”, he added.
The farmer also demanded that Garlic and Chilies of Pulwama should also be exported to European countries for their various health benefits.
