Asia Begum is revolutionizing rooftop farming in Bandipora, Great Kashmir

From setbacks to success: Asiya Akbar’s rise as a progressive farmer

Report: Danish Ali
Greater Kashmir
Aug 28, 2024

Asia Begum, a 30-year-old from Bandipora, Kashmir, is inspiring others through rooftop farming and indoor mushroom cultivation. Her innovative journey is becoming a beacon of hope for unemployed educated women in the region.

Next article:

From setbacks to success: Asiya Akbar’s rise as a progressive farmer

She has been doing all this from the rooftop of her father’s house as they have no land, demonstrating how a business can be successful even in simpler settings

Author Avatar OWAIS FAROOQI
Greater Kashmir
September 2, 2024

Excerpt:

At 32, Asiya, from the small village of Nusoo in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, has been in the business of selling organic mushrooms, spices, and vegetables, mostly plants and plant seedlings to a wide customer base, particularly in north Kashmir’s districts. Her popularity is now fetching her customers from Srinagar and Ganderbal as well.

Currently, Asiya mostly sells a variety of vegetable seedlings, ranging from simple species of collard greens to shallots, and spring onions to brinjals and beetroot. What makes her unique is that she provides fresh availability year-round, even in winter.

“I sell my produce to customers in Kupwara, Baramulla, Hajin, Ganderbal, and even Srinagar,” Asiya told Greater Kashmir.

This success did not come easily. Asiya started cultivating organic mushrooms with support from the agricultural department in 2021 and expanded into vegetable farming a year later.

Married in 2011 in a nearby village of Mantrigam, Asiya lost her first husband, army personnel, within four years, leaving her “devastated” along with her two children. However, her in-laws never gave up on her.

“My father and my in-laws have been a force behind my success and continue to support me despite the odds,” Asiya says.

Asiya, who stayed in her first husband’s home, “went through a lot of ridicule,” she expressed.

“The society looked down on me as a young widow, which compelled me to remarry,” she shared.

After coming to terms with the loss of her first husband, she remarried in 2017.

But in 2019, another tragedy struck when their house was reduced to ashes, leaving her “heartbroken.”

Read the complete article here.