The orchardists suffered as apple-laden trucks were left stranded on the Jammu-Srinagar highway for days on end resulting in rotting of a large portion of the crop. The halt dealt a blow to the apple growers already struggling to keep their heads above water, writes Riyaz Wani
Kashmir has witnessed a bumper apple crop this year but despite that farmers have found themselves struggling to make a profit. A considerable portion of the crop rotted this year due to transportation issues after apple-laden trucks were halted on the Jammu-Srinagar highway for days on end in September and early October.
At one point in September, around 8000 trucks were stranded on the highway carrying apples worth Rs 8000 crore. Road repairs along the highway halted thousands of trucks carrying apple produce to the markets in other parts of the country. This triggered protests by apple farmers who feared that further delay would perish the produce.
The issue also took a political turn with the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and the PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti joining orchardists to protest the extended closure of the highway. She termed it an “economic terrorism.”
The apple produce touched 2.1 million metric tonnes of apple in Kashmir this year, according to a statement by the divisional commissioner Pandurang K Pole.
Other challenges
The delay in reaching markets in New Delhi and the other parts is not the only problem bedeviling Kashmiri apple. It faces multiple challenges like price crash, vagaries of weather, lack of cold storage and the competition from imported apples, especially from cheap Iranian apples.
Already, the growing costs of pesticides and transportation have considerably reduced the returns from exports. Till the time apple is harvested, a farmer has to spray pesticides between 10 to 15 times to save crop from scabs and other ailments. This involves a huge cost.
“The returns from the apple crop have been diminishing over the years,” said Basharat Bhat, an orchardist from Sopore, Kashmir’s one of the prominent apple towns. “Costs of spraying pesticides and transportation have gone up manifold. This has eaten into returns.”
Bhat said that over the years pesticides rates increased by almost Rs 1,000 per kilo. The pesticides save the crop from scab, mite, leaf infection, and other diseases. The price of wooden boxes in which apples are packed has also gone up to over Rs 100. Labourers who pick apples from trees charge Rs 800 per day. To top it all, the rising cost of transportation has further raised the cost for orchardists.
