Nature has bestowed Kashmir with extraordinary climatic conditions and forest cover, apt for different mushroom varieties including gucchi (Morchella), an exotic species of the mushroom family.

Many describe it as the 'cuisine of the royal'.

Meanwhile, Mushroom cultivation programs employ women in the border area of North Kashmir in Kupwara.

From their homes in the Kupwara district, these women cultivate mushrooms to sell at the local market.

It is profitable, and people purchase with utmost sincerity.

Mushrooms are creating a substantial profit for the valley’s women, who have not had much financial freedom but can now contribute to their families.

Women here say that strict gender roles hinder their economic opportunities and the region’s economic development.

The female work participation rate is just 25.6 percent nationally and 22.5 percent in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Women in the villages of Kupwara are happy with the cultivation and in return what mushrooms provide them.

They have the comfort of having at least self-sufficient and self-made entrepreneurs.  
 
Source: The Singapore Post 

BDST: 1918 HRS, NOV 04, 2020
AP