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Kashmir’s home-grown ‘nadru’ tantalises taste buds in Middle East
The Jammu and Kashmir government is extending them value addition and handholding services in selling their produce in the international market
Nadru -- a unique vegetable mutual to every Kashmiri Muslim as well as Pandit home -- has since ages been grown and consumed in the Valley, but not anymore.
The vegetable, which has also found its mention in works of Kashmiri poets and oral stories, is now getting exported to Middle Eastern markets.
Kashmir recently sent two consignments of nadru to the UAE, triggering a hope that the international marketing of this vegetable could give its growers a fresh lease of life.
The Jammu and Kashmir government is extending them value addition and handholding services in selling their produce in the international market.
After the devastating floods in 2014, the lotus stem had vanished, but gradually started emerging after three years.
Lotus stem is one of the vegetables used in the region while cooking during festivals. Its harvest starts in October and continues till December. “From March till September, we work tirelessly in these marshy areas,” said Mohammad Ashraf, a grower. “From October-end till December, we harvest nadru,” he added.
A J&K government’s spokesperson said the newly formed and promoted farmer producer organisation, comprising 250 farmers from Dal interiors, has recently exported two consignments to the UAE.
“The initiative of constituting this body is in line with the government’s commitment towards empowering the farmers to sell and promote their produce in potential national and international markets,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently mentioned about the export of nadru to the UAE in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme.
“Growers in the Dal Lake area often complained that the price they got for the harvest was not enough due to the lack of market linkages and meagre individual produce of the farmers. Considering the uniqueness of nadru, the Srinagar administration met entrepreneurial farmers and after preparing a blueprint, approved the farmer producer organisation in December 2022,” the spokesperson said, adding that the body is being supported by NABARD.
The organisation has been registered as ‘Dal Lake Lotus Stem Farmers Producer Company’ and within a short span of time, it has mobilised 250 shareholders in the Dal Lake area of Hazratbal.
“The exported nadru fetched a decent price to the producers,” an official of the agriculture department said.
During bone-chilling temperatures, farmers and groups of lotus diggers start plucking nadru from various parts of Dal Lake and other areas to earn their livelihood. These farmers mainly use hooked staff from to extract lotus stems from swamps.
Lotus stem is grown in various waterbodies of the Valley, including Nigeen, Anchar and Manasbal lakes, but its major cultivation is being done at Dal Lake of Srinagar.
Muhammad Shafi, 50, while recalling the 2014 floods, said, “We had lost our entire lotus cultivation. It took us three years to bring back the nadru cultivation on track in Kashmir.”
