Wanigund, a unique ‘vegetable village’ located some 55 kilometres from Srinagar in southern Kashmir’s Kulgam district.Read more about this village:
V/D/C NEWS :
It is always harvest season in Wanigund, a unique ‘vegetable village’ located some 55 kilometres from Srinagar in southern Kashmir’s Kulgam district. All through the year, the residents of Wanigund are busy cultivating various kinds of vegetables. They till the land, manure and irrigate it, and later harvest and sell the produce in markets across the Valley.
Spread across 400 kanals, the open fields run through several villages and are all owned and cultivated by the locals.All varieties of vegetables are grown and harvested in tonnes throughout the year.Wanigund has about 250 households that are dependent on the income from farming.Almost every family in the village is engaged in vegetable cultivation.The fields are also a source of income for a number of unemployed educated youth in the Valley.Vegetable cultivation began in Wanigund in the 1970s after some village elders found the soil more suited for vegetables than rice.
The agriculture department is trying to provide a market for the produce from the village and supply high-tech polyhouses for seedlings.
However, the villagers say they require government support for irrigation, developing the water canals, and obtaining market space for selling produce at competitive rates.
