SKUAST-K faculty contributes
Srinagar: NITI Aayog has unveiled a comprehensive roadmap to transform horticulture in Jammu and Kashmir into a high-value, export-oriented sector, with a special focus on flagship crops under the proposed “Operation Golden Greens” mission. The strategy emphasizes boosting productivity through high-density plantations and orchard rejuvenation, strengthening post-harvest infrastructure including cold chains and controlled atmosphere storage, and promoting value addition, branding and global market linkages.
Structured across key sub-sectors like fruits, dry fruits, vegetables and floriculture, the roadmap also highlights the role of farmer producer organizations, private sector participation and technology-driven interventions to address challenges such as low productivity, ageing orchards and high post-harvest losses, with the long-term vision of enhancing farmer incomes, generating employment and positioning J&K as a major contributor to India’s horticulture exports by 2047.
This has been stated in NITI Aayog report titled Road Map for Horticulture Development in the UT of J&K. The report has been prepared by Expert group constituted by NITI Aayog including Dr. Neelam Patel, Senior Adviser, NITI Aayog, Dr. Babita Singh, Senior Consultant, NITI Aayog, Dr Vikas Tandon, Dean Horticulture, SKUAST-J, Dr. Syed Zameer, Head, Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Horticulture, SKUSAT-Kashmir, Dr. Namrata Thapa, Consultant-I, NITI Aayog, Ashaq H Pandit, Head Fruit Science, SKUAST-K, Javid Iqbal Mir, Principal Scientist, ICAR-CITH, Srinagar, Farhat Shaheen, Associate Processor, SKUAST-K, Srinagar, Zahoor Ahmad Bhat, Ex-Director, Horticulture, Kashmir, Chaman Lal Sharma, Director Horticulture (Planning and Marketing) and C. S. Tomar (Scientist F), Head Meteorology Centre, Srinagar.
The roadmap presents a holistic, value-chain driven strategy, prioritizing productivity enhancement, high- quality planting material, advanced post-harvest infrastructure, and robust market linkages, underpinned by the proposed Operation Golden Greens mission to catalyze integrated horticulture development.
· The roadmap presents a holistic transformation strategy to reposition horticulture in Jammu & Kashmir from a subsistence-oriented activity to a high-value, technology-driven and export-oriented sector.
· It emphasizes a value chain approach, integrating production, post-harvest management, processing, logistics and market linkages to ensure end-to-end efficiency and profitability.
· A central pillar of the strategy is “Operation Golden Greens,” which prioritizes key crops including fruits, vegetables, flowers etc for targeted productivity enhancement and global market positioning.
· The roadmap identifies low productivity, ageing orchards and post-harvest losses as critical bottlenecks and proposes high-density plantations, orchard rejuvenation and modern infrastructure as core interventions.
· It strongly advocates for development of cold chain networks, controlled atmosphere storage, packhouses and processing units to reduce losses and enhance product shelf-life and quality.
· The strategy promotes value addition and diversification through processing, branding and GI-based marketing to capture higher returns in domestic and international markets.
· A major focus is laid on export promotion, including the creation of export clusters, traceability systems and alignment with international quality standards.
· Institutional strengthening through Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), cooperatives and public-private partnerships (PPP) is highlighted as essential for scaling and sustainability.
· The roadmap integrates digital agriculture, climate-resilient practices and precision farming technologies to future-proof the sector against climate variability and resource constraints.
· It adopts a phased implementation framework (short, medium and long term) culminating in a 2047 vision of making J&K a globally competitive horticulture hub.
· The expected outcomes include enhanced farmer income, employment generation, increased export share and sustainable economic growth in the region.
Jammu & Kashmir’s diverse agro-climatic conditions offer strong potential for horticulture-led growth, provided challenges related to water management and land use are effectively addressed.