Women Agro technocrat : A unique start up

Postgraduate girl from South Kashmir establishes Kiwi farm, a first of its kind in the sub-region of Kashmir

Sameer Ahmad

Anantnag: In the face of a visible global economic downturn that is not accepted by governments, a brave girl in south Kashmir has decided to “Bite the bullets” by opening a Kiwi nursery on one kanal of her property. This is a unique start-up, where usually educated youth knock the government offices for jobs, but Gowhar Jabeena has taken on the challenge of becoming an employer and setting up an inspiration for Kashmiri youth.

24-year-old Gowhar Jabeena had never really considered entrepreneurship as something she looked forward to. With her love for growing kiwis full-time, she began a nursery under the name of “Green Posh Nursery Unit” where she cultivated kiwis as part of her full-time job. In order to become an entrepreneur, she decided to establish a kiwifruit nursery in Dabruna Ashajipora of Anantnag district in south Kashmir.

After SKUAST introduced the plants on an experimental basis and sustainable basis, an MSc Economics and Agriculture student from SKUAST University Kashmir, Gowhar Jabeena, made a kiwi cultivation nursery possible for the first time in south Kashmir. In order to experiment with the cultivation of kiwis, SKUAST has developed several experimental gardens.

Talking to Arising State Jabeena said girls should be self-reliant. She would like to encourage girls to do something that they enjoy doing, such as making their own money and being able to earn on their own, so if they don’t want to do the same business e.g Kiwis, they need to do something else from which they can earn money and remain independent.

Jabeena said,” When I was studying at SKUAST University two years ago, I was wondering why not start a business related to agriculture that would bring me profit and make me independent while I studied. I thought it was a great idea since agriculture is something that I am passionate about”.

‘There has been a huge demand in the market for Kiwifruit, so I thought why not try to grow Kiwis on my own land. ‘

‘It was my good fortune that when I started, several girls called me and said they were inspired by me.’ If boys could do it, why couldn’t girls,’ she said.

Jabeena said that the climate of Kashmir is suitable for the cultivation of this fruit; I wanted to see if the fruit can be grown in Himachal Pradesh, and if so, why cannot it be grown in Kashmir given that their climates are very similar. Besides this, Jabeena encourages other girls interested in learning about how to run their own Kiwi business to come forward and receive training so that they can start their own units as well.

As of today, Jabeena’s Nursery unit has about three to four hundred pairs of male and female kiwi plants for sale. Many people from the South Kashmir area come to buy plants from my nursery, and till date, I have sold hundreds of such plants. As Jabeena emphasizes, interested customers should make sure that both are purchased in order to ensure adequate growth.

According to her, the cultivation of kiwi fruit has a great deal of potential in the Kashmir valley. This will be of double benefit to the farmers in the valley, she added. As we all remember, it was  late Bashir Ahmed War, a farmer from Sopore in North Kashmir, who for the first time in Kashmir Valley’s history, was able to cultivate kiwi for first time due to his tireless efforts, she said.

It was Jabeena’s idea to name her Nursery “Green Posh Nursery Unit” in District Anantnag where she is now planting a variety of fruits besides kiwi including walnuts, plums, peaches, and apricots.