In the Kashmir valley, where Agriculture is the main source of economy there has been a massive dip in the agricultural land holding from 0.62 hectares to 0.59 hectares per person.
This official data shows that Kashmir had 4, 67,700-hectares of agricultural land in 2015 which has dropped drastically to 3, 89,000 hectares in 2019, 78,700 hectares of land have been been converted from Agricultural to Non-Agricultural purposes in the last five years in Kashmir.
The data reveals that the land under paddy cultivation in Kashmir region shrank from 1, 48,000 hectares in 2015 to 1, 40,000 in 2018.
Similarly, maize cultivation shrank from 100,000 hectares to 76,000 hectares over these years.
Accordingly, cultivation of pulses has declined from 14,600 hectares to 12,767 hectares. Oilseed cultivation also plummeted from 86,000 hectares to 81,000.
Director Agriculture Kashmir, Altaf Aijaz Andrabi while speaking in a function today also pointed out that large scale conversion of agricultural land into non agricultural use shall create an imbalance in the agricultural ecosystem as the change in land pattern would be the greatest concern to our food security and economic sustainability.
The Court had earlier directed all the District Magistrates to stop conversion of agricultural land.