Fruit growers pitch for cold storage, pesticide monitoring

Srinagar May 7: Following his superannuation from government service in 2015, Abdul Hameed devoted himself entirely to cultivating fruits and vegetables on approximately one hectare of ancestral land in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district. Throughout the years, he implemented improved technology via several government-sponsored initiatives to enhance his agricultural yields.
“During my government service, I would give less time towards my orchard as I was busy with my official duties. However, since 2015, I am only working on fields and growing fruits, vegetables and also rearing poultry after taking advantage of several government schemes. I bought a tractor, built a tube well, a pond for vermicompost, a greenhouse for interior farming of vegetables and also gave my orchard a better shape,” he said.

From Rs 4 lakh 10 years before, he now earns annually Rs 10 lakh through fruit production of apples.
He however said half of earnings goes on expenses of labourers, pesticides, and fertilizers.
“Although schemes have borne fruitful results but government should also look at other areas in the horticulture sector. They should check the quality of pesticides and fertilizers and the same should be provided to farmers at subsidized rates. Besides in Ganderbal district, we don’t have a cold-storage facility available where we could keep our fruits and save them from perishing or then selling at good prices. Once we pluck fruits, we have to sell them within two days as we don’t have cold storage here,” he said.
He also said Kashmir’s horticulture sector needs better irrigation facilities as it mostly relies on natural precipitation.
Horticulture is the mainstay of Kashmir’s economy with seven lakh families directly or indirectly associated with the sector. Horticulture contributes over eight percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Jammu and Kashmir.
As per the government figures, 7.5 lakh families/35 lakh population are directly or indirectly involved in this sector.
More than 3.38 lakh hectares of land is under the fruit cultivation in the valley. Of which 1.62 lakh hectares is under the apple cultivation.
A production of 20.35 lakh metric tonnes was recorded during 2020-2021 and generated revenue of Rs 7000-8000 crore, according to official figures.
J&K has been declared as an Agri Export Zone for apple and walnut horticulture produce and farmers have been using modern technology and taking benefits of various schemes to get better results.
Mohammad Farooq, a farmer owns ¾ hectare of orchard at Ganderbal. Over the last 10-years, his income has doubled. He cited it with usage of new technology for which he said he received good support from the government.
“Over 12 years ago, I used to earn Rs four lakh. Now I earn Rs eight lakh annually and am now far more economically stable with good savings. I have developed my orchard properly. We use pesticides and do pruning on time. We do proper grading and place them according to different boxes which fetch us good money. The KCC has helped farmers like me to do all these things and get better returns,” he said.
Like others, Mohammad is also worried over the poor quality of fertilizer and pesticides available for farmers. “The sub-standard fertilizers and pesticides are available in markets. Government should take measures to stop this and then provide all these things at subsidized rates,” he added.