Declining Apple Industry- Challenges & Solutions

Jammu & Kashmir is bestowed by nature with suitable conditions, ideally fit for the cultivation of almost all kinds of temperate and most of the varieties of tropical and sub-tropical fruits. Horticulture in Kashmir has not recent origin but is an age-old economic activity as it was mentioned by Kalhana in his Rajtarangni during the reign of King Nara in 1000 B.C. and subsequently received patronage especially in the period of Lalit Aditya. During the past few years, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has seen enormous expansion of land under commercial crops especially under Apple Orchards which lie at the altitudes of 1,800 to 2,700 m above the sea level. Deep and heavy loams are more suitable for apple orchard as these soils can retain moisture for a longer period. Ambari, Delicious, American Terral, Maharaji, Piazratbali, Ke- sari, and Royal Misri are some of the important varieties of apples grown here. Apples are grown in temperate climates. To meet these conditions, nearly all of India’s apples are grown in three mountainous States in north India—Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttaranchal Pradesh. Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir each have roughly equal area planted to apples, but Jammu and Kashmir has the highest average yield and accounts for about two-thirds of total production. There has been poor demand of Kashmiri Apples outside Jammu and Kashmir. This all happened due to the introduction of apples from Iran and Afghanistan further complicated by blockage of Jammu – Srinagar National Highway. Because of the economic sanctions on Iran and militancy in Afghanistan, the currency value in these countries is very low in comparison to Indian Rupee and this makes the import of these fruits to India very cheap. Due to this reason the Government of India imported Apples from these countries putting its own industry at great risk. The supply of apples has increased against the demand; hence it has brought down the prices of apples in India especially in Jammu and Kashmir. The supply has become too much that the Apple growers in Jammu and Kashmir did not even get money invested on fertilizers and pesticides. In Jammu and Kashmir Apple growers invest approximately about 20000 rupees/ kanal on Pesticides and fertilizers but presently these growers find it difficult to even get this invested money. The Apple growers of Jammu and Kashmir have availed lakhs of rupees from banks as loan on Kisan Credit Card and have been paying back small instalments to clear the loan but due to sharp dip in prices of the apples, these growers have become unable to pay back these instalments. If the situation continues, we will soon see the instances of farmer suicides in Jammu and Kashmir like we see in other states of India. If the situation continues the land under orchards will become unremunerative and the farmers will cut these trees down and the economy including Indian economy will get affected. The blockage of Jammu – Srinagar National Highway is also a big challenge and has accelerated the Apple grower’s problems as the Highway often remains closed. Recently, the construction and repairing works on the Highway has stucked thousands of trucks containing apple fruits. Apples being perishable in nature cannot be kept in trucks for days and hence these apples became unfit for marketing in Indian Mandis. Presently we have two roads, Jammu – Srinagar National Highway and Mughal Road, leading from Jammu to Srinagar and vice versa. Since the Jammu – Srinagar National Highway occasionally remains closed due to landslides and it hampers the economic activities. We should take much efforts to make Mughal Road, a permanent alternative road and it will not only boost our economy but will also lead to inter territorial contacts.
Horticulture especially the Apple Industry serves as an important industry in J&K providing a large number of benefits to the people. The Horticulture annually contributes nearly Rs 5000/ crore to J&K economy and nearly contributes about 7% to the Gross Domestic Product of J&K. It serves as the direct and indirect source of employment for over 7 lac families in Jammu and Kashmir and is thus an important industry to reduce the rising unemployment rate. It does not provide employment and good income to only Apple growers but also to people associated with this industry. The boxes used to contain apples are made of wood of poplar trees and as such it serves as an important employment option for farmers growing poplar trees in their waste and barren lands which otherwise are useless lands for cultivation. The people engaged with picking, packaging and transporting of apples also get employment. The transportation of these apples would require trucks, load carriers and other vehicles, which in turn are dependent on Diesel and petrol fuels. The decline of this industry would put the employment of these people at huge risk. Since the heavy trucks and their drivers are often from outside Jammu and Kashmir, the decline of the Apple Industry would affect people outside Jammu and Kashmir and would thus have huge impact on the overall Indian economy. Kashmiris have become habitual of taking fruits like banana, oranges, kiwis etc. while visiting the homes of their friends and relatives and also to patients. Since Kashmiris are known for sympathy and solidarity nature and it is the high time for all Kashmiris to show their solidarity with apple growers of Kashmir who are facing odd time and this solidarity can be shown by reversing the habit of taking banana and oranges etc. to their relatives and instead should start taking apples of Kashmir. The Apples are nutritionary rich as they contain calories, fat, sodium, carbohydrates, fiber, sugars, protein, potassium, vitamin C, A and antioxidants. Medicinally apples are also given credit for helping: lung strength, heart, asthma, bone health, weight loss, brain (easing symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and age-related memory loss. Immune system, gut health etc. This information needs to be circulated and disseminated to the society so that they could use and promote these apples through different electronic and social media like Facebook, Instagram, you tube, websites, newspapers, advertisements etc. Another way to overcome the challenge posed by the sudden dip in the prices of apples is to find out alternative options like setting up juice industries. The investors in Jammu and Kashmir can set up big juice industries to prepare quality apple juice which can be exported any time outside Jammu and Kashmir and it will prove a good option to reduce supply and increase prices. In order to help the Apple growers and show solidarity with them in these tough times, all the Kashmiris need to make apples as alternatives to cold drinks, peach juices (Rani), almond juices etc. on important functions like weddings, engagement functions or other celebration functions. Cold storages may prove another option to overcome the excess supply challenge. Almost all apples produced in India are used for fresh consumption, with only small quantities used for processing into products such as apple juice, jelly, or jam. The investors need to invest money in setting up big cold storages where apples can be preserved for longer durations and these apples can be exported to markets outside Jammu and Kashmir at appropriate time when the demand in the market gets higher and supply gets lower and all this will fetch good prices to apple growers.
(The author is a freelancer. Views are his own)
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