Sadiwara (Anantnag District), JAMMU & KASHMIR :

Farooq Ganai’s approach to recycling food waste is benefitting him and the community too. Fayaz Wani highlights Ganai’s eco-friendly entrepreneurship.

Jammu & Kashmir :

A lawyer by profession and a former sarpanch Farooq Ahmed Ganai, who is also known as a ‘garbage man’, has successfully grown saffron by using compost made from vegetable scraps generated at his home.

His actions have a message that not only can discarded waste contribute to a cleaner and greener environment but it can bring wealth as well.

He is leading a “quiet revolution” of turning waste into wealth and now, wants to educate people about the incredible potential of managing waste.

“I had started the initiative ‘give me garbage, I give you gold coins’ in my village (Sadiwara in Anantnag district) when I was sarpanch of the hamlet. The motive behind the initiative was to attract people and inform them as to how worthy the waste is,” Farooq told The Morning Standard.

Now, with this latest effort, he has been stressing behavioural changes – segregating waste at source, i.e. dividing waste into multiple categories but mainly organic (food waste) and recyclable (plastic, paper etc.)

“From the last year, I have been working on it. People usually throw the domestic waste in rivers and nallahs, and it leads to choking of drains and unhealthy living conditions during the rainy season,” Farooq said.

“I segregate whatever waste is generated in my home. The onion, potato, banana and orange peels, and egg shells; whatever has to be discarded in the form of domestic waste, I segregate it from non-organic waste,” he said.

The primary objective of this, he said, is to promote source segregation of waste at the household level and use the food waste for composting. Now, this effort has led to the successful cultivation of saffron in his garden.

Saffron, known as red gold, is traditionally grown in Pampore and adjoining areas in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district. It requires specific climatic conditions, and its cultivation has remained confined to some areas of the district.

Recalling how he got the idea of growing saffron in his village, Farooq said when he had to say “no” to a friend who had asked him if saffron is grown in his village.

“It pinched me and also motivated me to grow saffron,” he said. “I got some saffron corn from a farmer from Awantipora in Pulwama. He provided me 60 corns on October 2 this year, and I sowed those corns using the domestic waste and other things,” the lawyer-cum-farmer mentioned, holding back the excitement.

Farooq said what followed was nothing short of miraculous. “Within just 19 days, the first saffron flower bloomed. And I have harvested 85 saffron flowers so far,” Farooq said.

According to him, the result proves two things – with proper management, organic waste can be turned into wealth and traditionally climate-specific crops like saffron can be grown in different parts.

“If we can grow saffron using domestic waste as compost, we can turn all the waste in our surroundings into a resource, which will not only make our environment clean but also help us monetarily,” Farooq said.

He now plans to adopt four households in every village and teach the villagers about source segregation, which he hopes will lead to behavioural change.

Through education, community involvement, and transformative potential of waste, Farooq is hoping to pave the way for a cleaner, greener and wealthier Kashmir.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> The Sunday Standard / by Fayaz Wani / November 24th, 2024