Pakhtoon grit blossoms in south Kashmir village with Rs 2 crore watermelon boom

Anantnag, Nov 16: In the hilly village of Wantrag in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, a proud Pakhtoon community once dependent on modest horticulture and government jobs has found self-reliance and prosperity in an unlikely crop – organic watermelons.

At the heart of this transformation is Muhammad Aslam Khan, 45, a school dropout who defied local skepticism and Kashmir’s cool climate to grow a fruit traditionally confined to India’s hot plains.

“When I first planted watermelon on a small patch of land in 2008, people laughed,” Khan said. “They said it wouldn’t survive here. But when the first harvest came, everyone was surprised.”

Encouraged by that success, Khan expanded cultivation the following year, a move he now calls “the turning point.”

Today, he grows organic watermelons on 55 kanal land under his Pakhtoon Hi-Tech Green Nursery, earning approximately Rs 30 lakh annually.

“The Pakhtoons are known for hard work, dignity, and self-reliance,” Khan said. “This initiative is a tribute to that spirit.”

The Cheki-Isherdas-Wantrag area, home to nearly 1000 families, mostly Pakhtoon, has undergone a quiet revolution.

Once reliant on apples, walnuts, and government employment, residents now cultivate watermelon across 500 kanal of land.

“This year, the village earned over Rs 2 crore from watermelon sales,” Khan said. “Nearly 70 percent of families are now engaged in cultivation. Next year, we plan to reach 1000 kanal.”

Khan’s farm alone employs a dozen workers, while others in the community have followed his lead, adopting organic methods and greenhouse-based germination.

According to Khan, cultivating 1 kanal of land costs approximately Rs 12,000, while the returns can exceed Rs 50,000, far more than those from traditional crops.

The watermelons, grown here without chemicals and fertilized only with vermicompost, are in high demand across Kashmir.

“Buyers come from Kupwara, Baramulla, and even the Chenab Valley,” Khan said. “We don’t depend on mandis or middlemen; the sales are all local.”

He also supplies watermelon seedlings to farmers in other districts, helping spread the model beyond Wantrag.

Khan’s success has inspired educated youth to shun unemployment and return to agriculture.

Among them is Tawseef Pathan, 27, a history postgraduate who earned Rs 3 lakh in profit from 5 kanal.

“Rather than waiting for government jobs, youth should become self-sufficient,” Pathan said. “This has changed my life.”

Umar Nazir, 25, a graduate, and his brother Mohsin, 20, a mathematics student at the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), have also joined the effort.

“We cultivated watermelon on 8 kanal and earned Rs 5 lakh,” Mohsin said. “Aslam Khan showed us that true empowerment means earning from your land.”

The initiative has benefited from government programmes like the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP), the Per Drop More Crop irrigation scheme, and the J&K Competitiveness Improvement of Agriculture and Allied Sectors Project (JKSIP), which offer technical and financial support.

“Today, no one in the village is idle,” Khan said. “Every educated youth here cultivates watermelon or vegetables. Everyone earns and lives with dignity.”

Khan urges farmers to make the most of their land throughout the year.

“Don’t leave your land idle,” he said. “You can grow something in every season, even in late autumn and winter.”

Kashmir’s horticulture sector supports 35 lakh people and contributes about Rs 10,000 crore annually to the region’s economy.

Wantrag’s watermelon success has rewritten assumptions about what can grow in the Valley’s cool climate.

“We proved that with determination, even the mountains of Kashmir can grow what once only the plains could,” Khan said.

As global producers like China and Turkey dominate the watermelon market, Wantrag’s organic, high-quality melons have carved a niche and, more importantly, revived the spirit of self-reliance among Pakhtoons.

“Our lives have changed,” Khan said, gazing across his fields. “We no longer wait for jobs or government help. We earn from our land and that’s real empowerment.”