While food security is becoming the biggest challenge worldwide, Kashmir is fast losing its agricultural land turning this already import-dependent region more vulnerable. The rampant agricultural land conversion is the biggest threat to J&K’s food security due to the scarcity of arable land and smaller farm size.
Due to unchecked and haphazard urbanization – mostly unplanned, construction of houses, shopping centres and other commercial complexes on agricultural land is a common sight wherever one moves in the Valley. Conversion of paddy fields into residential colonies and commercial complexes is happening like anything without any check from the authorities.
J&K lost more than 5 lakh kanal of agricultural land in the last five years while the government and administration look the other way. Even when J&K was a state, there was a number of bills and proposals for banning agriculture land conversion. But no concrete action has been taken so far.
However, it is not the unavailability of law but the lack of will from the administration side to stop the misuse of precious agricultural land. Legal experts believe that existing laws provide the government with enough teeth to act and stop the menace but due to the land mafia blind eye is turned on the burning issue.
As J&K is already 50 percent deficit in food and depends on the import of rice and wheat from the northern Indian states, which are also facing a shortage in production due to droughts and other reasons, acquiring food grains may become a nightmare for J&K soon.
It is high time for the government to act swiftly and sincerely not only to bring laws for ceasing the conversion of the agricultural land but also to take all the measures that can enhance food production in the UT. Farm owners and people associated with food cultivation must be encouraged by providing them different benefits so that they will find it more lucrative to retain the land for food production instead of converting it.
If provided enough incentives and helped with scientific methods and modern technology, farming can become a lucrative occupation in J&K. Per hectare production is still 10 to 15 times lower than the agriculturally developed places in the world. Increased growth can not only turn J&K self-sufficient in food but can also enhance the living standard of about 70 percent of the population, whose livelihood is dependent on agriculture.
