Wular Lake Singhara Water Chestnut Farming Kashmir

Wular Lake in Bandipora district of Kashmir Valley is South Asia's largest freshwater lake and the primary growing area for singhara (Trapa natans, water chestnut) — a seasonal aquatic crop harvested by Kashmiri fishermen-farmers who cultivate the floating singhara plant in the lake's shallow margins and the connected Dal Lake bays. Singhara cultivation requires no land: the planting material (seeds or seedlings) is anchored in the lakebed mud, and the plants float on the water surface for the entire growing cycle. Harvesting is done from small wooden boats (shikara) by hand-pulling the water chestnut vines. Fresh singhara — with its smooth olive-green skin and starchy white flesh — is a seasonal October-November food in Kashmir, sold by vendors roasting them on coals beside the lake ghats in Srinagar. Dried singhara flour (singhare ka atta) is used for fasting-day flatbreads across north India. Wular singhara is GI-tagged as a product of the Wular lake ecosystem. The fishing-farming families of the Hanji community (boat-people of Kashmir) are the primary singhara cultivators. The wetland singhara cultivation system also supports the broader Wular lake ecology — the singhara beds provide habitat for migratory waterfowl and juvenile fish species.