JK’s Doda: Lavender Man of India, Touqeer Baghban, Honored in Bhaderwah

Ashiq Butt | August 16, 2026 | 09:03 AM IST | Breaking News, Doda, Jammu Kashmir | Follow on Google News

JK’s Doda: Lavender Man of India, Touqeer Baghban, Honored in Bhaderwah

Bhaderwah (Doda), August 16, 2026 [VoM News]: The famous lavender entrepreneur from Doda district, Touqeer Baghban, who is also called the “Lavender Man of India,” was lauded by the Bhaderwah administration during the Independence Day festivities. The administration felicitated Baghban for his contribution in encouraging the lavender cultivation, entrepreneurship, and the agricultural potential of the Bhaderwah region of the Doda district.

Local lavender growers have been motivated to cultivate the aromatic crop through Baghban. Many youths are encouraged to take up agriculture, as well as other allied activities, to earn a good income. Baghban is making the Bhaderwah lavender industry a widely-known entity.

Lavender in Bhaderwah is being cultivated under CSIR Aroma Mission, as well as with the support of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM).

High quality planting materials, technical assistance, and distillation unit have been made available to the farmers. The farmers have shifted their crops from maize to lavender and now a new income channel is opening through the production of lavender essential oil, lavender dried flowers, and lavender honey. The administration complimented Baghban for promoting agricultural identity and economic potential of Bhaderwah.

The lavender venture in Bhaderwah is creating attention throughout the county. Due to this venture, many other hill regions are also being considered for aromatic farming, and this has led to a kind of “Purple Revolution,” which provides for alternative livelihoods for the mountain farming communities by cultivating high-value crops.

Ashiq Butt

Ashiq Butt – is VoM News's senior staffer worked since year 2015 and he deals with correspondency and social media handles. Hailing from Doda's Marmat, Ashiq has strong grip over the collection of the data and it's compiling feature.