Gardening emerges as new hobby among J-K youth amid COVID-19 lockdown

With many people staying at home due to COVID-19 restriction, gardening has emerged as a new hobby for youth in Jammu and Kashmir.

An entrepreneur-cum-floriculturist from Srinagar, Shahid Bhat toldthat floriculture and gardening are emerging trends in the Valley.

"It is an emerging trend in Kashmir. Before there were flower exhibitions in Kashmir, but now the demand has increased and people are demanding rare plants and are willing to buy flowers ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 1 lakh. More people are entering this profession," he said.Shahid joined his family's floriculture business after completing his studies till class 10. But, he said he didn't have a lot of knowledge about hybrid and bonsai plants.

"To get more knowledge about plants, I did a course from an institute in Pune and also from a nursery in Punjab. Then I started my own business. I started from zero, didn't even take any help from my father. Now, we are maintaining parks in the city and business is going well," he said.

The young floriculturist informed that the flower market witnessed a 75 per cent increase in small businesses in the past one year.

"This business is trending these days. This year, around 75 per cent of new small-scale nurseries opened in the market," he said, adding that his business is still growing despite competition.

"People have now developed an interest in planting flowers. Youths are building their interest to plant flowers. We used to wait for a year to let the flower bloom. But now we have a lot of hybrids. I import flowers from across the nation and other countries also," he added.

Shahid, who has around 120 varieties of indoor plants and over 300 varieties of outdoor plants, said that people who are building new homes are planting huge gardens these days.

"Young generation is also very much fascinated with gardening. Before only the older generation was engaged in this task. We are buying beautiful hybrid flowers and other plants used to decorate homes," said Faisal Ahmad, a customer.

( With inputs from ANI )

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