Kashmir apple traders seek industry status

Orchards in Kashmir Valley ~ once known as the fruit bowl of India ~ are full of fragrant apples but growers fear another disastrous year of business in the wake of what many say is government apathy. Farmers across the valley, currently busy harvesting the fruit to be shipped to markets outside the state, accuse the government of not doing enough to safeguard the declining horticulture sector."Kashmir fruit business, despite being one of the prime revenue earners, has never got the desired attention from the government," Mr Abdur Rasheed, a fruit grower in Shopian, about 50 km from Srinagar, complained. Like Rasheed, most of the farmers complain of the government's failure to accord to the fruit business an industry status."By granting the status of an industry to the fruit business, we could be entitled to financial and other subsidy benefits," Mr Rasheed said. Over three million people are directly or indirectly associated with this trade that is currently estimated at Rs. 20 billion, said Mr Mubeen Shah, president of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), who wanted the government to take extra measures to save the industry from further deterioration. According to the state's horticulture department, around 1.5 million tons of apples are produced in Kashmir annually.However, the valley's fruit business, facing stiff competition from Shimla apples and other imported fruits, is declining in infrastructure as well as in investment. Orchards are being converted into residential plots, as farmers here say the trade, which once earned fortunes for them, is not yielding enough."After suffering continuous crop failures for the past many years, I had no option but to sell a portion of my orchard to a city-based businessman who has started construction on it," said Mr Majeed Mir of Shalimar, who once had about 10 acres of orchards in the Telbal area, 26 km northeast of Srinagar. According to estimates, over 500,000 tons of apple are ruined every year in the valley. There are many reasons for this. Diseases like scab infection, alternaria, red-might and powdery mildew are spoiling the crop and growers are unable to do much to stem the rot.Farmers allege that spurious fungicides, pesticides and fertiliser are being supplied to them at exorbitant rates. Even if the production is up to the mark, there are no cold storage facilities to preserve the fruit in case of shipping delays, says Mr Manzoor Ahmed, a research scholar at an agricultural university here.On an average a truck takes 36 hours to reach New Delhi on a clear road and much longer if it is headed to other Indian markets. Added to it is the absence of proper marketing strategies. No proper grading according to size and quality and absence of attractive and scientific packaging have damaged the valley's fruit trade, Mr Ahmed opines.However, the government says adequate steps are being taken to save the worsening fruit industry. "We have ordered implementation of a market intervention scheme to ensure standard packaging and grading of fruits," horticulture minister Mohammad Dilawar Mir said. "This is necessary to withstand the stiff competition in the liberal trade regime as sale of mixed grades of fruit is bringing a bad name to the world-famous fruit industry of Kashmir," Mr Mir said. "If we want to compete, we have to improve the quality.""Fruit trade in the valley has every potential for growth," claims Mr Ghulam Rasool Bhat, president of the Kashmir Fruit Growers Association. Mr Bhat substantiates his claims, saying: "Kashmiri apples are juicier and appealing in colour. Known for their special taste, apples grown here are high in demand in markets across India." The different varieties of apples grown here include Hazratbali, Delicious, Royal Delicious, American and Maharaja. Experts also feel that scab resistant variety of apples would help in business revival. Scientists at Sher-e-Kashmir Agricultural University here claim to have developed Shireen and Firdous varieties, which they say are resistant to diseases. However, the newly developed varieties have not been introduced in the market yet.
Source: thestatesman.net
Publication date: 9/24/2007