BUDGAM: The sowing season has started across Kashmir valley amid the coronavirus lockdown. The sowing season in Kashmir usually starts in the month of April and the harvest takes place in September. In the month of April, farmers prepare the fields before sowing the seeds. The preparation involves, especially for rice sowing, the ploughing of land, removing of weeds, and pumping of water into the soil.
Umar Mohammad Ganie from Chewdara Beerwah said that it is mandatory for every farmer to sow seeds in April. “If the farmers can’t sow the seeds at the proper time, it will disrupt the whole agricultural process,” he said.
A group of farmers from villages in Budgam district told Kashmir Reader that most families in the region are entirely dependent upon agriculture. As they do not have any other source of income, most farmers cultivate paddy, which serves also as a cash crop.
Imran Ahmad, a farmer in Beerwah region, said, “The farmers work in their agriculture fields from April to September. The sowing season is also beneficial for the domestic animals as the people cut the grass in their fields and it serves as fodder for their animals especially in the winter season.”

ARIF RASHID