Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) supported by HDFC Bank's corporate social responsibility programme Parivartan in Kashmir are together generating revenues of up to Rs 5.2 crore, and one has recorded Rs 1.4 crore, Rural Voice reported.
The work, carried out with ISAP India Foundation and Citizens Foundation, covers saffron growing in Pampore, apple and walnut processing, and Kashmiri red chilli farming in Uri. Participating FPOs sell processed products under a shared brand, SAMARKASH, with help on branding, packaging and links to buyers.
Saffron, apples, walnuts and red chilli carry much of Kashmir's rural economy, but growers face low productivity, climate variability, post-harvest losses and weak access to organised markets. In Pampore, saffron farmers have received solar water pumps, solar dryers, advice on better practices, help building their FPOs and market links. In Uri, a border area, chilli growers have been given polyhouses, drip irrigation and solar drying. Mulching is also promoted, particularly for saffron.
Processing units have been set up for apples, walnuts, saffron, Kashmiri red chilli, milk and traditional bakery products, using solar dryers, cold storage and other machines for grading, sorting, preservation and value addition, so that collectives can bring market-ready goods rather than raw produce.
Bashir Ahmad Ganie, president of Kirmaniya Fruit Fed FPC, said the facilities and the SAMARKASH brand had let farmers process, pack and sell on their own terms instead of selling raw straight after harvest. Nusrat Pathan, head of CSR at HDFC Bank, said the programme aims to improve farming practices, strengthen food processing and widen market links.
Beyond farming, Parivartan funds other livelihoods, including skills training for women. The bank said it spent Rs 1,316.18 crore on CSR in 2025-26, extended coverage to 498 border villages across India that year, and has invested about Rs 7,492 crore in Parivartan in total. Its rural agenda includes raising the annual incomes of five lakh low-income farmers through sustainable practices, collectivisation and market linkages. The figures are the bank's own.
Photo: Umarsami / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0), saffron fields at Pampore, Kashmir
Source: Rural Voice
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