Amid the terraced apple orchards in Bijbehara of south Kashmir, the purple patches of lavender have a buzz these days. The lavender crop is changing not only the landscape of the Kashmir Valley but also the economic gains of farmers. Several traditional low-income crops such as maize are fast making way for lavender fields in all 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
Introduced in 2016 by the Union Ministry of Science and Technology under the Aroma Mission of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, lavender has found home even in the barren and rocky slopes of Pahalgam and Sonamarg in south and central Kashmir.
At Sirhama in Bijbehara, farmers are busy harvesting purple flowers spread over eight hectares. “Lavender is a high-demand product. Oil extracted from the flowers costs ₹15,000 to ₹20,000 a kg in the market,” Maqbool Lone, a farmer, said.
