Kashmir’s backbone of economy ‘Apple’ trade faces HUGE loss despite overproduction- Know why

Srinagar: The bumper harvest of Apples this year in the valley should have brought a lot of cheer among the apple growers in the Kashmir region, but instead, they are considering it the worst year in terms of profitability. With the drop in prices by over 50 per cent and no place to store the crop, it has increased the worries of these apple farmers. The Apple growers are getting prices around 50-60 per cent lower than the last year with less demand for Kashmiri Apples in the market. This has become a worry for the apple growers in the Kashmir Valley.

Shahid Chaudhary, General Secretary, New Kashmir Fruit Association said, “We face a lot of problems like cold storage facilities which get booked in advance. However, due to the bumper crop, the growers were left with no option of storing their crop rather than keeping it in open. There was an issue with the national highway as well and when all these crops reached the Mandi, the rates dipped. A Mandi which usually gets 50-100 trucks daily started getting 150 which lead to the dip in rates. We have been asking the government for more cold storage units and urgung them to place mini cold storage in small villages placed too as well.”

One of the reasons for the dip in the rates of Kashmiri apples has also been the import of apples from Iran. Importing Iranian apples in India has affected the market of all the apple-producing states in the North of India including Kashmir. The apple growers and associations have requested the central government to stop the import of Iranian apples so that the market of home-grown apples is not affected.

“The Irani apples have ruined our market. We have asked the central government to ban Iranian apples as it has affected our market,” said Shahid Chaudhary.

Kashmir region has around seven lakh families associated with horticulture and Apple is one of the major contributors towards the GDP of Jammu and Kashmir. With 3.5 million people associated with the industry, 8 percent of the GDP in J-K is being contributed by the apple industry. According to data, there was around a 15-20 per cent increase in production this season.

Apple Grower Bashir Ahmad said, “There was a bumper crop, but we are not getting appropriate rates. Our dreams have vanished. everything has gone expensive and the farmers are at loss. One of the reasons is that there was a bumper crop and second being crop destruction. We want cold storage from the government which growers have in Iran.”

Kashmir has produced around 23 lakh metric tonnes of apples last year and has increased by around 15-20 percent this year. Around 2,500 to 3,000 apple trucks would leave from the valley during the peak season, the rate of which has dropped as well. The buyers from across India are also facing huge loss due to the dip in rates.

“The crop production is more this year, but the rates are less as compared to last year and people are also not purchasing. A truck of apple which used to be sold in a day, is now being sold in 3-4 days. The product which used to be sold at Rs 800-900 is now being sold at Rs 500. Iranian Apples are also affecting big cities as people are preferring it more than the Kashmiri ones,” said Dinesh Yadav a Buyer from UP. 

All the apple growers across the Kashmir region have requested the central government to save Kashmir’s biggest industry by banning the Iranian apple as well as creating more cold storage space in the valley.