Officials Inspect Affected Areas as Farmers Demand KCC Loan Waiver, Crop Insurance, 100% Net Subsidies
Srinagar :A destructive combination of hailstorms, heavy rainfall, and high-velocity winds has caused catastrophic damage to apple orchards and standing crops across key agricultural belts in Shopian and Kulgam districts.
Reports said that In heavily impacted villages including Feeripora, Mandujan, Kaprin, and Rakhpora in Shopian, alongside Nihama, Samnoo, and Bathipora in Kulgam—growers claim a complete 100 percent loss of their standing apple crop. Director Horticulture Kashmir Vikas Anand, senior departmental officials, and Zainapora MLA Showkat Hussain Ganie conducted on-site inspections to evaluate the disaster. Distressed growers expressed immense anguish, emphasizing that their extensive financial investments in fertilizers, pesticides, and manual labor had been wiped out instantly. “We have spent lakhs of rupees throughout the season on pesticides, fungicides, fertilisers, labour and other orchard activities. We were waiting for the harvest to recover these expenses, but everything has been destroyed within minutes,” lamented an affected orchardist, while others demanded realistic, loss-commensurate relief rather than symbolic hand-outs. Growers urgently demanded complete compensation, an immediate waiver of Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loans, and a 100 percent subsidy on anti-hail nets. MLA Ganie highlighted that at least nine villages in his constituency suffered near-total destruction and revealed that a comprehensive crop insurance scheme is currently at the tendering stage for a three-year rollout. He promised to escalate the KCC loan waiver demand to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, while growers pressed authorities to implement detailed orchard-by-orchard damage assessments and long-term protective infrastructure.
