New project
The Government of Jammu and Kashmir recently decided to give a boost to the floriculture industry in Jammu and Kashmir by approving a mega 39 crores project.
This project will boost flower production in Jammu and Kashmir and create new employment opportunities for youth.
The new project aims to address the challenges facing the floriculture industry in J&K through a number of latest technological interventions and strategies. The objectives of the project included increasing output from the pre-COVID levels of Rs 28 crore to around Rs. 85 crore per year in the next four years, supporting each production cluster with end-to-end value chain, post-harvest and processing facilities, branding, and market access, and capacity building of human resources for increasing employment in floriculture and allied sectors.
The project shall restore 2.25 hectare of area under cut flower production apart from adding 24 hectare of nursery area, creating four clusters (85ha) for lavender cultivation, increasing the area under loose flower production, and expanding the area under seed/bulb production. It also included exposure visits and training for stakeholders and business development and contract farming agreements with breeder and seed companies.
The project’s key outputs included upgrading 54 nursery units to high-tech operations, re-operationalizing 150 units, adding an additional 400 hectare of area under cultivation (total 587 ha), creating 330 new enterprises and training 2000 new growers in aromatic flower and bulb/seed production.
