An agricultural revolution is ripening on the vine in the picturesque village of Hatchmarg, nestled just 35 kilometres from Handwara in Kashmir. At the heart of this transformation is Mohammad Sadiq Badhana, a 52-year-old farmer whose journey from traditional cultivation to innovative tomato production is redefining the region's agricultural landscape.
Badhana's odyssey began in 1990 with a fateful visit to Delhi's bustling Azadpur Sabzi Mandi. There, amidst the colourful array of produce, he encountered tomatoes from Dholpur, Rajasthan that outshone their Kashmiri counterparts in size, colour, and flavour—this moment of discovery sparked a vision that would take over a decade to realise.
"Those Dholpur tomatoes were a revelation," Badhana recalls. "They were larger, redder, and more flavorful than anything we were growing back home. I knew then that we had to raise our standards in Kashmir."
Inspired but cautious, Badhana spent the next ten years refining his skills and knowledge. In 2000, he cautiously reintroduced tomato cultivation on a modest 1 kanal plot, using traditional methods.
Read more at Greater Kashmir.