A hi-tech polyhouse set up at Shopian's mini secretariat is helping farmers boost their income by providing improved quality seedlings.
The polyhouse has been set by the Agriculture Department of Jammu and Kashmir and provides farmers a wide variety of seedlings to produce high quality vegetables.
The aim of the Agricultural Department is to make farmers in the district self-sufficient.
Chief Agriculture Officer of Shopian Ghulam Hassan Magray toldthe use of seedlings at polyhouse has led to produce of higher nutritive value.
"Seedlings of various vegetables have been prepared, some of which will be cultivated here for the first time. These have also been distributed among farmers. The seedlings include broccoli, some hybrid vegetables, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, okra, and more. It is necessary to make farmers aware of the quality of seedlings as the vegetables they produce have more nutritive value which gives farmers the opportunity to get more money for their crop," Magray said.
The hi-tech polyhouse allows local farmers to get more seedlings of hybrid, local as well as exotic vegetables to boost their incomes.
Shahid-ul- Islam, a farmer, vouched for the benefit of seedlings being provided at the polyhouse.
He said local farmers had to earlier go to other districts to procure seedlings.
"We get a huge variety here. Earlier the farmers had to go to Srinagar or Pulwama or to other places to get them. It is very beneficial as there are new varieties here like never before," Shahid-ul- Islam told ANI.
Manzoor Ahmad, a farmer, said quality and rates of seedlings are reasonable.
"The quality is really nice and there is good variety. The rates are also reasonable," he said.
Adil Hussain, also a farmer, said they earlier had to go to other districts for quality seedlings. "We are very thankful to the department," he said.
Agriculture department is keen that more and more farmers of Shopian take advantage of the facility.
( With inputs from ANI )
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