Bhaderwah's Purple Revolution stirs interest from Himachal to Meghalaya

Bhaderwah: Once known as a terror hotspot, Bhaderwah, a quaint town has emerged as Jammu and Kashmir's 'Lavender Valley' and inspiring states as far as Meghalaya and Gujarat to embrace the Purple Revolution.

Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh, a local Lok Sabha member, said neighbouring states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand too have evinced interest in growing the lavender crop, which has helped farmers earn a quick buck.

"Chief Ministers of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand reached out to us to know how to grow lavender as the states have similar climatic conditions," Singh told PTI here.

Singh inaugurated the second edition of the Lavender Festival here which helps farmers link up with businesses and explore markets for their produce.

About 2,500 farmers in this hilly town have given up their age-old tradition of growing maize to embrace the profitable lavender farming.

"We have planted lavender in six villages of Meghalaya and plan to expand it to 20 other villages soon," Augustus Shemphang Suting, Deputy Project Director, Meghalaya Basin Management Agency told PTI.

Singh said states such as Gujarat were also keen to explore whether lavender can be grown in some parts of the state.

Lavender was introduced to the temperate regions of the Jammu division by the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM) under the CSIR-Aroma Mission in 2018.

Lavender oil which fetches Rs 10,000 a litre for farmers here has changed lives in this town and surrounding areas.

"We had to struggle to find land to cultivate lavender when we launched the mission in 2018. We managed to get 600 sq mtrs of land with great difficulty, now lavender is grown on 6,000 hectares of land in the region," Singh said.

Known as 'Chhota Kashmir', Singh prefers to call this town as the Lavender Valley of the region, which is exporting purple revolution to other states.

The maize farmers in the region were troubled with monkey attacks on their crops, but they don't target lavender crops which has come as a boon.

Singh, who represents Udhampur parliamentary constituency which also covers Doda, said things have changed for the good as new generation and entrepreneurs are happily working in lavender fields, which not only provide them an opportunity to increase their income by manifold but they are also generating employment for others.