APPLE INDUSTRY AT BRINK  

Apple growers of Kashmir are facing very tough situation as the pandemic lockdown has dashed all their hopes to get their produce out of Kashmir valley. The coronavirus lockdown has broken the supply chain as most of the apple growers in Kashmir have kept their produce in the cold storage.

They were expecting to sell their over three million cartons of apples in the March 2020, but they are not getting any buyers. They are paying for their produce per month in these cold storage units and huge losses are staring at their face.

Horticulture sector of Jammu and Kashmir especially apple industry has faced many storms in past one year. Untimely snow resulted in uprooting of trees and also loss of produce on the ground.

The government promised to intervene and save them, but after months of delay according to the apple farmers they have got rupees 1500 per orchard as compensation in some South Kashmir villages.

They have huge number of apple boxes stored in the cold storage units in Lassi Pora Pulwama with no buyers. In such a situation central government will have to intervene and bail them out, otherwise this backbone of Kashmir economy is facing onslaught from all sides.

The government should also help them in the supply chain so that they can send their produce in the trucks to Delhi and other parts of the country. Their monthly charges in the cold storage units has also piled up with no incentives from the government. In such a situation this industry along with thousands of families who survive on this trade are at the brink.