Keeping in mind the rising prices of vegetables, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir is helping its people to adopt the culture of having their own kitchen gardens.
"Everybody in Kashmir owns a piece of land. We are trying to cash on on it through the kitchen garden culture. This will promote greenery. There are two groups of people who can get involved in this culture; one group can include retired officials, while the second are housewives," said in-charge Kitchen Garden unit Agriculture Department, Manzoor Ahmad, on Friday.
"It is very beneficial. People are using kitchen gardens because of the rising prices of vegetables and kitchen garden also keeps a person busy and people consider it as an exercise. This is also very profitable," said Kashmir Valley resident Abdul Rashid.
In order to promote the concept of kitchen garden, the Department of Agriculture is also offering different vegetable seedlings, including hybrid vegetable seedlings, at nominal prices.
The initiative has been appreciated by residents, as the state government is providing all kinds of facilities, including seedlings on subsidy, to convert their lands into a kitchen garden.
The escalation in prices for vegetables like onions and potatoes has adversely affected the budget of the common man across India.
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And recently, the prices of tomatoes also shot up across India, leaving the common man in distress. According to wholesalers, the prices of tomatoes have risen by at least 35 to 40 percent due to the non-arrival of fresh stock in the festive season.
Apart from the daily wage earners, even the upper and lower middle classes are finding it hard to cook a wholesome meal of vegetables, a common ingredient of the traditional Indian kitchen.
The pace of growth in food prices in India outdid China's 6.1 percent rise in inflation, rising to an annual 18.40 percent last month, the fastest clip since July 2010.