Starting with Rs 3 daily wages, how this Kashmiri man became a millionaire farmer

When Ghulam Mohammad Mir left his home in Moolu village, in the Shopian district of South Kashmir, to work as a farm labourer in Haryana, little did he know that he would one day be a successful agripreneur, earning lakhs and inspiring thousands of farmers in Jammu and Kashmir.

Mir left his home in the 1970s to work as a labourer at a wage of Rs3 per day in Haryana. “I doubled up as a watchman at night to earn more and worked there for 15 years,” Mir tells 30Stades.

“Wages were low, and I had a difficult time tolerating summers, but Haryana gave me the practical knowledge of vegetable farming, crop cycles, marketing and soil care,” he says.

While working on the farm, he often thought of cultivating his own land back home in Kashmir.

From three to 30 kanals of land

When Mir returned to Kashmir, he purchased three kanals (0.375 acres) of land in Gadbug Nowpora. He began cultivating vegetables like spinach, carrot, cabbage, cucumber, Kashmiri saag and cauliflower. 

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“I would regularly go to Haryana to buy vegetable seeds,” he says. The production continued to grow as Mir had learned about using organic farming methods like applying vermicompost, cow dung manure and biofertilisers like Trichoderma.

In 2001, he purchased more land, and since then, there has been no looking back.

Over the last 20 years, his total farm area has expanded to 30 kanals (about four acres). Out of this, he uses two acres for producing high-value crops like cauliflower, broccoli, Chinese cabbage (popular with burger makers) and other seasonal vegetables.

His produce is fully organic, and the cultivation practices have earned him awards and recognition at the district and state levels.

Why organic farming

“Organic farming leads to high production. The yield for, say, cauliflower, is around 15 quintal per kanal in one season of three to four months (9600 kg per acre),” Mir says.

He is a strong proponent of intercropping as it boosts soil fertility and the nitrogen component. “I intercrop potatoes with beans. Each kanal yields eight to nine quintals of potato apart from beans,” he adds.

Mir prepares vermicompost on the farm to keep soil fertility high. “I have cows and use their dung. Currently, I have 25 vermicompost beds, and production exceeds my requirements. So I sell the surplus,” he says. 

“After harvesting every crop, we till the soil, add vermicompost and then plant saplings of vegetables prepared in our nursery. We don’t sow seeds directly in the soil,” he says.

Mir does not go to any market for sale. “The produce is well-known for its organic qualities. Traders, hotel owners and other bulk buyers come to the farm for procurement,” he says.

He uses mulching to reduce water evaporation and cut irrigation costs. “Mulching also prevents soil erosion and growth of weeds,” he says. Mir uses drip irrigation to provide the optimum amount of irrigation to plants. “Both over and under-watering are harmful,” he says.

Diversifying into fish, dairy and poultry farming

With time, Mir has diversified beyond vegetables, adding fish farming, dairy and poultry, which now contribute significantly to his revenues. “Kashmir is a big market for fish and chicken and relies heavily on imports from Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh,” he says.

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A recent report notes that around Rs 2,000 crore worth of meat is imported annually into Jammu and Kashmir, and poultry traders from Punjab supply over half a million eggs and 40,000 to 50,000 chickens daily. “Reducing this dependency presents a major opportunity for local producers,” he says.

“The addition of dairy, fish and poultry in the last decade has been a real power boost to my agri-business,” he says.

Kashmir has recently witnessed a large-scale shift to high-density apple orchards, replacing traditional plantations. Mir was among the earliest adopters. Today, he owns eight kanals of high-density apple orchards, which are regarded as one of the best in the region for their high-quality production.

Through all this expansion, the farm now supports the livelihoods of around a dozen people, strengthening the local economy.

Daughter-in-law as the successor

As age slowed him, Mir found a committed successor in his daughter-in-law, advocate Shazia Latif, wife of Gulbadin Ahmad Mir.

A trained advocate, Shazia made a bold choice to leave her legal career and take full charge of the agrienterprise.

She now handles everything from cultivation management, labour coordination, accounts, supply chain and market linkages and has introduced structured planning and modern techniques.

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Under her leadership, the business has become more organised and future-ready. The Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir has also felicitated Shazia for her work.

Sitting beside his orchard, Mir reflects with a smile. “I started from zero. Today I employ many people. I want the youth of Kashmir to invest in their land and future. Agriculture has given me everything.”

His story, born from sweat and soil, is one of resilience and generational empowerment. And with Shazia at the helm, this legacy is set to grow and inspire many more.

(Sameer Showkin Lone is a development professional & a journalist. He is a former Aspirational District Fellow (Bijapur, Chhattisgarh) at the Government of India. He writes on internal security, Kashmir politics, development & governance, education and health issues)

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