By Amir Tantray
Bhaderwah: Once known for its maize and paddy fields, this hill town in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda is witnessing a quiet farming revolution. The blossoming cultivation of lavender, a medicinal and aromatic plant, transforms this place into India’s Lavender Capital.
The lavender farming not only provides opportunities for the budding farmers of the district to become entrepreneurs but also gives a good alternative for unemployed youth to turn it into a profitable business.
Bhaderwah, also known as ‘Chota Kashmir’, remains the focus area, with around 90 per cent of lavender cultivation happening in the region, which attracts millions of visitors every year for the unique sight and other major tourist attractions.
Currently, over 200 hectares of land are under lavender crop in Doda, and most of the farmers have shifted to this crop from the traditional farming of maize, pulses, paddy and others.
The idea to start Lavender (Levan Doula in the local language) cultivation in Bhaderwah was brought by former union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in 2010, but it was only in 2017 when Minister of State (MoS) in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh started it on the ground, and since then he has been following it to make it a success. Lavender cultivation also featured in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann Ki Baat some time ago.
Sharing his thoughts on lavender cultivation with ETV Bharat, a progressive farmer, Touqeer Bagwan, said that the traditional way of farming, like maize and paddy, was losing popularity among the farmers, and the young generation wasn’t taking them forward.
“People are turning their agricultural land for other purposes, including the construction of hotels, guest houses and other things, because there is less profit in traditional farming. But once the idea of lavender farming came to this area in 2010 and especially after 2017, many people have turned towards it, which has started yielding results in a short period,” he said.
Bhagwan, who is also the founder of JK Aroma, said that traditional farming was not giving enough profit to farmers despite their investing money, time and energy. “In lavender farming, one has to put in hard work for the first three years by putting in scientific efforts and looking after the plant and its health, and after that, the farmer will only reap the benefits from it for the next 15 to 20 years,” he added.
At present, lavender is being cultivated on more than 411 hectares of land in Jammu and Kashmir, with the majority of cultivation being done in Bhaderwah. In other parts of the Chenab Valley, Kishtwar and Ramban, few farmers have also opted for this, whereas some areas of Rajouri and Poonch districts have also been identified for lavender farming.
Nek Chand, a farmer from Tipri village of Bhaderwah, who was extracting oil from the lavender flowers near Seri village, told ETV Bharat that he is one among the few farmers who opted for lavender farming in 2016, and by 2019-2020, he was earning Rs 9000 to 10000 per kilogram of oil extracted from the produce.
“I have around 12 kanals of land under lavender cultivation, and I am earning Rs 15000 to 20000 per kanal of land. In traditional farming, the income was less, and once I shifted to lavender, it started giving good benefits,” he said.
“But recently the market has gone down, and last year only Rs 3700 was earned from one kilogram of lavender oil. I request the government to promote our farming and ensure we get a good amount of money from our produce,” Chand added.
Mostly the oil is being extracted from the lavender flower with the help of distillation units established by the CSIR-IIIM, and the oil is further used for making perfumes, soaps, cosmetic products and other things.
Similarly, dry lavender flower is used to make tea and other things, the demand for which is increasing, as informed by the farmers associated with it.
Director CSIR-IIIM Jammu Zubair Ahmed told ETV Bharat that annually, around 150 tonnes of oil have been extracted from lavender, and for the last two years, the total cost of the oil sold in the market was over Rs 1.23 crore.
“The total cost of flowers sold in the market in the last two years was over Rs 7.46 crore,” he said.
The major issue confronting the farmers and people associated with the lavender cultivation is that it is a new crop in India, and countries like Bulgaria, France, China, and others have been doing it for the last 300 years, and their exports are in the billions.
The farmer Touqeeer claimed the products from Bulgaria and other countries were less costly, and they can meet the demand of industries which require the product in bulk, whereas Indian farmers are still in their infancy in production.
“Our lavender oil is sold at around Rs 1000 per kilogram, whereas oil being imported is less costly,” he said, adding that they will have to bridge this gap to make it acceptable all over.
Commenting on this, Zubair said he was unaware of the quality of oil being imported from other countries, but lavender oil from Bhaderwah is of the best quality.
“A couple of startups from neighbouring Punjab and Himachal Pradesh also tested it and found it of the best quality,” he said. “Our produce is yet to find a permanent place in the market, but at the same time, farmers have already started earning a profit from the crop,” he added.
He informed that to address the concerns of farmers, CSIR-IIIM, during the two-day Lavender festival in Bhaderwah from June 1-2, arranged a buyer-seller meet in which buyers from different parts of the country participated through online mode, which will go a long way to address the concerns of people associated with it.
In the first three years, lavender farming requires complete attention, from sowing the seeds in the field and protecting them from wild growth to watering the plant till it grows. “Once the plant grows and flowers start blooming, for 18 years, a farmer only gets the produce without spending much on it. We have to keep the field clean and ensure a water supply at regular intervals. The sub-zero temperature of Bhaderwah during the winters helps the plant in getting the attention required, and from March to May, the blooming of flowers starts, and by the end of May and first week of June, cultivation is done,” Bagwan informed.
Meanwhile, lavender oil has already found a place in the One District One Product (ODOP) of district Doda, but it doesn’t fall in the category of GI tagging. “Lavender oil is already in ODOP but can’t apply for a GI tag because it is being cultivated in different parts of Jammu and Kashmir as well, and there is no speciality product of Doda district, and even the seeds are brought from outside,” Harvinder Singh, deputy commissioner Doda, told ETV Bharat.
He informed me that young entrepreneurs are getting involved in farming, and they are selling their produce on different online platforms.
Commenting on lavender farming helping in attracting more tourists to Bhaderwah, DC Doda said, “Yes, it is surely going to attract as we are not only focusing on lavender but on overall agri-tourism. We are utilising 500 hectares of land for marigold and other farming and want to make Bhaderwah the aroma capital of India as well.”
Read More
