Fungal attack in apple orchards across the valley

WIDESPREAD FUNGAL infection is set to hit apple production in Kashmir this season.

- AUQIB JAVEED

“Scab disease (Venturia inaequalis) is normal in orchards but I have never seen it so intense in my 35 years in the business,” says Abdul Jabbar, an apple orchard owner in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir. In a good year, he manages to pack 250 boxes of high-quality apples, which drops to 150 in a bad year. “This time I have just 30 boxes,” says Jabbar.