The harvest this year, claim the growers and the horticulture department of Jammu and Kashmir, has broken all records. But the fruit of their labour does not seem to be reaching the villagers of the Valley. Multiple issues plague the Rs 10,000-crore horticulture sector, including disruptions in the supply chain, inflation, shortage of cold storages and labour, and import of Iranian apples. It scarcely bodes well for a sector that employs 700,000 families directly and another 3.5 million indirectly.
In south Kashmir's Shopian, known as the Apple Bowl of the Valley, Mushtaq Ahmad Malik is grappling with a double whammy-shortage of labour and transportation delay. The owner of orchards measuring 40 kanals in his village Pannu pays 10 labourers Rs 10,000 a day to pluck, sort and pack apples. His annual yield is 4,000 boxes of 17 kg each of two varieties of apple-juicy and crunchy Kullu and red delicious-from about 1,000 trees.
This year, his harvest is expected to rise by 150 per cent. But rather than bring him cheer, it has Malik worried. "Right now, it is a warlike situation. There is a scramble for labourers and packaging material etc.," he says. "Prices have shot through the roof, but the returns are not promising." Early this month, he had to sell two of his consignments at throwaway prices in Delhi.
This story is from the November 14, 2022 edition of India Today.
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This story is from the November 14, 2022 edition of India Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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