Baramulla: Six years back when Chasfida got married at Palhallan Pattan in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, the economic condition of her husband was modest, not enough to live a quality life.
However, with her exemplary efforts in farming, she has become an agriculture entrepreneur within a short period and a role model for other women in the area.
Chasfida continues scripting her success story by utilising her husband’s abandoned land for farming and now supplies agricultural produce including onion, tomatoes, cucumbers, saplings, chilli, and other vegetables to Tanghdar, Ladakh, and other parts of J&K.
Besides, she also provides jobs to several other women at her farm.
Chasfida owns a splashing agriculture farming land of 8 kanal and produces vegetables in abundance. Her efforts have not only changed her fortunes but she has become a role model for other women who visit her for advice.
“When I started my agriculture farming journey six years back, my neighbours used to anticipate a big failure. However, the same people are now visiting me for advice which gives me immense pleasure,” said Chasfida with a smile on her face.
Sharing her experience, Chasfida said that despite being a postgraduate in Political Science besides having a BEd degree, instead of wasting time by being after the government jobs, she took to agriculture farming and used her in-laws’ abandoned land for farming.
Starting her entrepreneurial skills from the courtyard of her home on a 10-marla land in 2016 by planting tomato seeds, the effort boosted her morale as the sale of its saplings generated her a revenue of Rs 17,000.
“Although it was a little amount, it gave me an idea that moving back to our ancestors’ profession of farming with scientific knowledge can fetch more dividends,” Chasfida said.
She said that at present she had used 4.5 kanal of land for the production of onions only.
“Onion saplings are ready and within a short time, the harvesting period will start,” she said.
Chasfida said marketing had never been an issue for her.
She said that the major portion of her agricultural produce is purchased by merchants from her agriculture farm itself.
After witnessing a massive yield of vegetables in the last few years, she has started sending vegetables to Ladakh and Tanghdar.
“After acquiring knowledge of characteristics of different onion seeds, I received a particular onion seed which has more shelf life and better yield. After its successful experiment, my onion production has multiplied and now I am sending it to various far-flung areas which generated huge profit for me,” she said.
Chasfida, who now owns two greenhouses and is preparing to buy a few more, is all praise for the officials of the Department of Agriculture.
Acknowledging their efforts in turning her dream into a reality, she said officials of the Department of Agriculture regularly visited her agriculture farm and often provide her suggestions for getting better production.
“They were of great help in my journey,” Chasfida said.