Substandard pesticides a threat to Kashmiri apple industry: Kisan Tehreek

Srinagar: Expressing serious concern over the damages caused to various apple orchards in twin south Kashmir districts of Kulgam and Shopian after spraying substandard pesticides, the Jammu Kashmir Kisan Tehreek demanded inquiry into the allegations by growers and orchardists so that responsible are identified and booked.
“No efforts have been made by the administration to check the quality of pesticides, fungicides and fertilizers before it is sold in the market. Orchardists often lose fruits after spraying spurious pesticide in orchards but the government has never taken any step to stop it,” Kisan Tehreek General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Malik said.
Malik said that lackadaisical response of the concerned agencies to check this menace has compelled the peasant community to protest. “For past few years these substandard fertilizers and pesticides have been openly sold in the market and authorities are watching all this as mute spectators,” he alleged.
The Kisan Tehreek General Secretary urges the administration to establish testing laboratories at District levels to check this menace.