To boost income, J&K apple farmers explore lavender cultivation, beekeeping
A one-day workshop at CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Pulwama, brought together 100 apple orchardists to explore integrating lavender cultivation and beekeeping into their existing farms.
The initiative aims to enhance farm income, ecological sustainability and reduce dependency on a single crop.
The workshop drew enthusiastic participation from orchardists and farmers from different districts of Kashmir.
Dr Zabeer Ahmed, Director of CSIR-IIIM, said, “We developed an innovative model through which we integrate apple orchard and lavender seed in an apiculture production system. The underlying idea of this innovative model is how we make apple production cheaper. Farmers can also have additional income from lavender-based product. All together, these crop networks will maintain ecological sustainability.”
Dr Shahid Rasool, Principal Scientist of CSIR-IIIM, said, “We are implementing the floriculture mission with the integration of apiculture with the help of CSIR. Today’s workshop was specially conducted for the orchardists of Kashmir. We demonstrated the method for farmers and encouraged them to use the model.”
The workshop focused on promoting crop diversification by integrating lavender cultivation and beekeeping within existing apple orchards to enhance farm income and ecological sustainability.
Lavender cultivation helps as an additional revenue source through essential oil production, supports pollinator activity, while beekeeping improves fruit set, overall orchard productivity and honey production.
