kashmir apple

Kashmir: COVID-19 Lockdown Adds to Woes of Apple Growers and Traders

Apples from the last harvest could not be sold because of restrictions imposed after the dilution of Article 370 and the COVID-19 crisis has come as a double whammy.

Shopian: With apple blooms sprouting, growers are worried that they may face huge economic losses due to disruptions in the supply chain due to the continued nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, which has been extended until May 3.

Even as they spray pesticide and fertilizer in their orchards, a considerable number of growers are worried. Many of them are yet to sell their produce from the last year, held in cold storage. They are neither able to send their produce to different mandis across the country nor are there any buyers due to the intense lockdown.

Ghulam Mohammad, a grower from the district is busy spraying the second round of pesticides in his orchard. He is among hundreds of growers who stored their produce from the last harvesting season, storing around 600 boxes. In normal circumstances, he says he would have sold them by now. But he is a worried man now. “How will I pay for the fertilizer and pesticide that I have used if I am not able to sell the fruit?” he asks.

He has made frantic calls to other growers, enquiring if they have sold their produce but has found that they are facing the same fate.

For the sector, which was already facing the economic consequences of the Centre’s decision to impose a lockdown after the dilution of Article 370, the threat of the novel coronavirus pandemic coinciding with the spring season has come as a double whammy. Orchardists in the region fear these developments will have serious repercussions for the Valley’s economy. Although the authorities have eased restrictions for the operators of cold storages, in the absence of buyers and trucks to carry the produce to other stations, farmers are left in limbo.

Also Read: ‘Third World Region of a Third World Country’: How Kashmir Struggles With the Coronavirus

Anil Anand, a forwarding agent based in Delhi said, “The government is allowing us to open our outlets from 2 pm to 6 pm only. There are no buyers around that time. Usually, we sell during the morning hours.” Traders based at the Sabzi Mandi in Delhi’s Azadpur said that one firm is allowed to transport goods only from one vehicle in a day, which affects the whole supply chain.

Another trader said that in case no buyers come, the fruit boxes are kept in the mandi, where the hot temperature spoils the fruit. This again results in losses to the growers and traders who send it to Delhi.

As many as one lakh tonnes of apples are stored in cold storage units based in Lassipora in Pulwama and Aglar in Shopian and other areas of north Kashmir. According to the traders, before the COVID-19 lockdown was imposed, the demand for the stored apples was satisfactory. With the lockdown, their hopes of making up for the losses incurred in 2019 due to blockades imposed in the aftermath of the dilution of Article 370 have been washed away.

Izhan Javid, a Lassipora based cold storage chain owner, said that the current lockdown has had a worse impact on the sector than the one imposed after the August 5, 2019, decision.

A desolate road in the Khanyar neighbourhood of Srinagar. Photo: PTI

“Last year, the closure of highways and the government-imposed ban brought havoc to the sector. Now the COVID-19 lockdown is doing it,” he said. He says usually, the fare for transporting apples is around Rs 15,000 per truck around this time of the year. Now, drivers are charging around Rs 35,000, he says, adding that even at the inflated cost, there are few trucks available.

One of the biggest worries for the traders and growers is that ideally, the fruit should not be stored in cold storage for more than seven months. “After seven months, the fruit begins to sustain damage. That period has already ended for the previous harvest,” said Abdul Hameed Bhat, a trader who has been in the business for a decade. He says there are no hopes of any relief from any quarter, not even the government. Like him, Ghulam Mohammad too isn’t expecting any relief, claiming that the government has not even compensated him for the damage caused by early snowfall in November last year.

Cold storages charge growers Rs 30 per box every month. For seven months, they have to pay around Rs 215 for a 16-kilogram box, which is in addition to the expenses spent on fertilizer, pesticide, labour and transportation. By this metric, the charges to store one lakh tonnes of apples will cost Rs 100 crore. Whether they sell the apples or they rot, these are charges that the growers must pay.

Experts estimate that the apples stored in cold storage units are worth Rs 900 crore. The loss of such a huge amount will wreak havoc on the sector.

In 2019, a record 1.5 lakh metric ton of apples was stored in cold units in Kashmir. The post-August 5 circumstances forced most growers to store the produce rather than selling it.

Many traders and growers who spoke to The Wire said that only a relief package from the government will help the sector. Otherwise, most of them will go bankrupt as the losses are not bearable.

Bilal Ahmed has stored around 1,500 boxes at a Lassipora based cold storage in 2018 and 2019. “There are many people who have stored 10,000-20,000 boxes of apples in cold storage after buying it from growers. Where will these people go, who will support them?” he asked.

According to official data, Kashmir produced around 23 lakh metric tonnes of apple last year, of which around 4% was stored in cold storage units.

Also Read: No Studies to Link COVID-19 to Pollen But Kashmir Government Wants 42,000 Poplars Axed

Last year, apples from Kashmir were sold at their lowest rates in a decade according to people associated with the sector. According to experts, the demand and supply parameters were not maintained in the fruit supply chain, leading to losses.

Most traders have taken business loans from banks and financial institutions, while growers have taken Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loans from banks. As they sustained losses, most of them have failed to pay their debts from last year.

According to the government’s figures, early snowfall last year saw 38% of the trees sustaining damage. It not only damaged the standing crop last year but also reduced the fruit-bearing capacity of trees.

Apples damaged by early snowfall in Kashmir. Photo: Reuters

Impact of continued lockdown

During the COVID-19 lockdown, many mandis across different states in the country, like in Maharashtra, are not allowing fruit-laden trucks.

Even those apples that are able to reach markets are going for significantly lesser rates due to a dip in the demand. The grade A apples, which are usually sold for Rs 1,000-1,200 around this time of the year are now going for Rs 500-600.

For now, the farmers are eager for some good news. With the detection of more COVID-19 cases in the Valley, their spirits are down. If the spread is not contained, the growers will be forced to throw away their produce.

Professor Imtiyaz Ahmad, from the Department of Economics at the University of Kashmir, said that Kashmir’s economy depends on the horticulture sector. If this sector faces any issues, it will percolate to the other sectors. “There is no indication that the government will provide relief to the affected people,” he said, adding that 70% of the economy is directly or indirectly dependent on the apple industry.

Raashid Hassan is a journalist based in South Kashmir and Ishtiaq Wani is a freelance journalist.

‘Beaten, Heckled, Made Examples of’: Detained Kashmiri Minors Speak Out

Minor boys held by police and threatened with further torture if they did not turn their friends in recount their experiences in custody.

Srinagar: “Shouts of ‘chal ya rakhskah ha aayi’ (‘run, the police vehicle is close’), cries, slaps, men in uniform dragging boys down deserted roads and gunshots.”

These are the sights and sounds that make up 14-year-old Afaan Mustafa’s dreams.

It has been more a month since Mustafa, a student of Class IX, was released from police custody after around 13 days, but the fear of uniformed men continues to follow him like a shadow.

On August 21, Mustafa, a resident of the uptown area of Natipora, Srinagar, was going to offer Asar prayers, when a Jammu and Kashmir police vehicle, (popularly known as Rakshak) picked him up outside the gate of the mosque in Azadbasti Natipora – five kilometres away from Lal Chowk.

With no channel for communication open, a lady residing a few metres away from Mustafa’s home came to inform his family about the incident. He was first taken to the Chanapora police station and later shifted to the Saddar police station in Baghat-e-Barzullah, some three kilometres away from his home.

Mustafa was one of an estimated 4,000 people, including minors, who had been arrested in Kashmir after the Centre stripped the partially autonomous region of its special status in early August, provoking violent protests in the Muslim-majority area.

During initial press briefings in Srinagar held by government spokesperson Rohit Kansal accompanied by other officials, the question over the number of detentions was raised continuously by journalists, but it was either ignored or replied to rudely. “It is easy to say hundreds have been detained, thousands have been detained. Give me a specific case,” countered Kansal over the question one day.

“Sir, when you can cite the number of people who offered prayers in different parts of Kashmir on Eid, why can’t the government say how many people have been detained?” questioned a journalist in the briefing as others around him cheered.

Also read: J&K Police Denied Media Reports of Illegal Arrests of Minors. Its Own List Is Proof to Contrary

The government in New Delhi has defended its decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir as a step to boost the economy and for the well being of the common people. However, most Kashmiris say this has increased alienation and anger on the ground. Of the thousands of Kashmiris arrested, most have been listed as “stone pelters and miscreants” according to a Reuters report.

Children like Mustafa have been raised amidst conflict and continuous disturbance – setting the stage for their eventual support to the separatist movement through attendance in funerals and protests, helping militants escape from encounter sites and stone-throwing. On the other hand, the measures used by the military forces to tame these youth, like pellets guns that have blinded hundreds, nocturnal raids, illegal detentions and frisking have served to only add fuel to the fire.

The Wire spoke to over a dozen minors, who had been detained for weeks, and their parents, to understand the result of the action on their future. Most of them opined contrary to the claims of the central government that younger Kashmiri will be better off now.

Mustafa, while recalling the day he was picked by the J-K police, said, “They had cordoned me and were forcefully trying to bundle me inside the vehicle. While resisting, a cop hit me on the back of my neck and I fell unconscious”.

Sitting in a small semi-dark room, he recalled his first reaction when he gained consciousness inside a dark lockup. “A ray of light was coming from a small window. There were three more boys inside the room but I couldn’t see them and in fear, a shiver ran down my spine. They later told me they had been picked up a day before my arrest,” Mustafa told The Wire later.

Inside the lockup

Next morning Mustafa, along with other boys, was shifted to Saddar police station in Baghat where he encountered others of his age who had similar allegations to make. “They hit me on my legs and feet with the sticks repeatedly. I was crying and was asked for mercy….but they didn’t listen, Aab maro pather…maro…maro (‘throw stones now…throw…throw’),” said Mustafa.

“Shabir Khan, the deputy superintendent of police stationed at Cargo Srinagar, himself beat me up and asked me to identify the boys in the video,” he added.

Also read: In Shopian, Kashmiri Family Alleges Illegal Detention of Minors

Mustafa’s family used to send him food from home as he had complained about unhygienic food inside custody. His family members made requests and sometimes pleaded for his release, but there was no response.

“We were asking them [police] to tell us what his crime was. Earlier they told us that they would show us a video recording of the area where young boys were throwing stones at forces. They claimed he [Mustafa] was also among them but they even didn’t show it to us,” said 44-year-old Gulam Mustafa, a government employee and Mustafa’s father.

Notably, in the recent past, after the rise in stone-pelting incidents in the Valley, forces would record protests only to identify the people participating and later would allegedly make nocturnal raids to arrest the youth. “This is a simple method they are using to catch protesters and sometimes, when in doubt, they arrest innocents as well,” said the senior Mustafa.

“They even damage property like windowpanes and household items to pass a message to the area against disturbing the law and order,” he said.

File image of Kashmiri girls shouting slogans in Srinagar in late September. Photo: Reuters

After two days, he was shifted back to the Chanapora police station where he found more boys from his area in lockup. Among them was 12-year-old Numan Khan of Natipora, a class VII student at Dawn Public School.

“I had a pet cat at home and was going to buy food for her and suddenly CRPF men grabbed me, saying, ‘Bardo isko gadi mai, tum pather marte ho’ (‘bundle him inside the cab, you are throwing stones’),” he told The Wire.

Khan, after finding himself inside a CRPF vehicle that was stationed at the main square of Natipora, started crying and tried to explain to them the reason for his being out. But, according to his mother, he was treated like a wanted criminal. “When they locked me up inside the room for the first time, I thought I will die in suffocation and fear of darkness,” he said.

Next to him was Mustafa. Both were helpless and before uniformed men. “They were even asking us to clean the kitchen and sometimes we were asked to cut the stubble of the courtyard by hand. If anyone resisted, they were kicked and made to follow the order. They said that this is our punishment for throwing stones,” said Mustafa.

Afaan’s medical report. Photo: Kaisar Andrabi

Mustafa had an eye infection while cutting the stubble, which caused severe swelling. “For two days I pleaded with them to take him for a medical check-up but they didn’t. Later, I narrated the situation to a medical assistant and who gave him an anti-allergic medicine,” said Mustafa’s father. “Soon after his release, we took him to an ophthalmologist for a proper check-up. These actions only give trouble to poor people,” he said.

Mustafa was in police lock-up for 13 days. According to his family, they continuously made rounds to the police station to know the status of his release. “We used to wait for hours outside the gate and sometimes were threatened by the police for not leaving the area. These 15 days were like 15 years for us,” said Mustafa’s father.

Also read: Vanishing Coaching Centres, Preparations From Jail: Exams in Jammu and Kashmir

“They were asking me to name the boys who were throwing stones at them. How would I know? If I would have named anyone, they would have picked him up and I would be branded a traitor,” said Khan who was released after three days from police custody only when his father, Suhail Khan, an engineer, assured them that he would remain home.

Change in behaviour

On September 2, Mustafa was released after his family showed his school certificates to the station house officer (SHO), which proved him to be a minor. “The moment I entered my home, I could not believe the sight. The three windows in my room were like a treasure as the lockup didn’t even have a bulb,” he said.

On November 15, Mustafa had a bout of intense nose bleeding and was rushed to Srinagar’s SMHS hospital where, according to his family, doctors said that he had an injury in his skull that caused the bleeding. Mustafa is now undergoing treatment.

Mustafa’s medical report. He has been having nose bleeds since his release from police custody. Photo: Kaisar Andrabi

According to his family, since his release, his behaviour has changed. “We are very cautious about him now. He has started acting impulsively about small things,” his father told The Wire.

“Actually, he was abused there and now he feels a sense of injustice,” his father murmured. “We are highly concerned,” he said.

Families like Mustafa’s and Khan’s have started going for weekly counselling sessions to help the boys cope. “The way they have been treated inside police lockups has not helped them in any way. If they [police] think that these moves can help them reduce incidents of stone-throwing, I guess they are quite wrong,” said Mustafa’s uncle, who didn’t want to be named.

Mustafa’s appetite has also been affected since his release. He has started showing a disinterest in studies. Most of the families that The Wire spoke to said that the forces had not only harassed minors but their families as well.

They raised some questions over the state’s treatment for dealing with such cases. “If, for example, a 10-year-old boy throws a stone, should they deal with it in this way? As a mature party, they should have proper strategies to deal with them,” said Mohammad Maqbool, a parent of a minor.

Also read: ‘Didn’t Challenge Detention Fearing Consequences,’ Says Jailed PDP Leader’s Daughter

According to Maqbool, beating minors up ruthlessly results in more anger and violence in boys. “Elders can be violent if they are beaten up mercilessly. Now, imagine the level of rage and bitterness this can create amongst youngsters,” he said.

Mustafa’s father told The Wire later that the boy sometimes says that he has studied enough and sees little reason in concentrating on a normal future.

Kaisar Andrabi is a Srinagar-based journalist, and currently with The Kashmir Walla, a local news magazine.

Why Kashmir’s Saffron Fields Are Shrinking

The annual saffron production in the years 2017 and 2018 was 16.45 and 5.2 tonnes respectively and for 2019 the agricultural department estimates it to be 5.91 tonnes.

Pampore, Kashmir: A few years back, saffron growers in the town used large winter blankets to collect the harvested flowers from the fields. During the nights, the precious stems would be separated. Now, to collect the flowers, a few baskets suffice.

“Gone are the days when we used blankets, now not even tiny baskets get filled with such low produce,” rued one of the growers.

Saffron production has been falling continuously over the years and if that trend continues, the townspeople will lose a crucial source of their livelihood and the Valley, one of its most precious spices for which it is known across the world.

According to official figures, the annual production of saffron in the years 2017 and 2018 was 16.45 and 5.2 tonnes respectively and for 2019 the agricultural department estimates it to be 5.91 tonnes.

Dr Amjad Hussaini, a SKAUST scientist said, “Drought like conditions, erratic rainfall, and no irrigation are the main reasons for the decline in saffron production,” and added that due to climate change, the pattern of rainfall had changed, which has had adverse effects on saffron.

Members of a grower family collecting saffron flowers in basket from their land in Pamopre, Pulwama. Photo: Shahid Mushtaq.

Many people affiliated with the sector have already switched to other sources of livelihood, abandoning their land. Despite timely rainfall this year, most of the saffron fields have sporadic flowers with large distances between the plants, indicative of the poor produce. Official claims of a bumper crop this year ring hollow.

Even the much-touted National Saffron Mission has not helped in improving the production; instead, farmers have blamed it for exacerbating the situation.

“Usually before the mission, we were sowing seeds with a 4-6 inch gap. When the government intervened in the sector they brought a new type of seed and told us to wash the seed in a chemical, which we had done never before,” said Suhail Sultan, a grower from Pampore and added that the chemical killed their seeds, even before they could see it germinating.

Also read: Kashmir: Centre’s Feeble Attempts to Procure Apples Are Not Bearing Fruit

Sultan has 15 kanals of land under saffron cultivation and is worried about his dwindling fortunes. He has shifted back to the traditional method of sowing seeds. On an experimental basis, his family had opted for the traditional method of sowing seeds on their two kanals of land, where production has not dwindled. They have concluded that the new method has contributed to the downfall of the sector.

The Wire spoke to many farmers in the area who voiced similar experiences.

“They told us to sow bigger size seeds (corms), instead of smaller ones, which we did earlier. When we did so, the crop almost disappeared from our fields and then as a test, we opted for the old tradition again and we found some chances of its revival,” said Aijaz Ahmad Lone, a saffron grower from the Khrew area of district Pulwama.

Young girls collecting saffron along with their parents (not in photo) from their fields in Lethpora. Photo: Shahid Mushtaq.

The 2014 floods, which brought heavy losses to Kashmir, also adversely impacted the saffron sector. The floods damaged the sources of irrigation in the saffron belt and washed away the roots. The crop, according to the growers, needed adequate irrigation at least thrice before two months of flowering.

In 2011, the central government initiated the National Saffron Mission to boost the sector, over Rs 400 crore was sanctioned and irrigation and seed distribution were identified as the basic components of the mission. Eight years after the induction of the NSM, irrigation arrangements are still not visible anywhere on the ground.

Syed Altaf Hussain Andrabi, Director Agriculture Kashmir, told The Wire that 3750 hectares (75,000 kanals) of land in Kashmir was under saffron cultivation. “Growers who registered their land under the National Saffron Mission were given Rs 25,000 per kanal, of which five thousand was given for irrigation,” he said.

Some of the growers said that despite laying pipelines and digging wells they were not provided water supply when their lands needed irrigation. Meantime, there were sporadic or untimely rains in the following years which resulted in late or no sprouting at all.

A vast saffron field with very few flowers and no irrigation arrangements in Lethpora alongside the Srinagar-Jammu highway. Photo: Raashid Hassan.

“The mission was a mockery with us, as crores of rupees were spent on papers without providing anything substantial to the growers, ” Aijaz Ahmad, a grower said.

He added that given the lack of irrigation arrangements in their fields, it was felt that the funds sanctioned for the mission had gone into the pockets of corrupt officials and said that the lack of irrigation facilities, even after nine years of induction of the scheme was proof of fund embezzlement.

In the Lethpora area of the town, growers said that this year, after a gap of five years, flowers have sprouted which has raised their hopes. Experts believe that the timely rainfall this year between the months of September and October was the lone reason that flowers were being seen in saffron fields.

“Earlier there were no rains at the needed time and, at the same time, the government failed to provide water supply to the said lands, which we had been promised a long time ago,” said Ishfaq Ahmad Yatoo, another grower.

Also read: Is It Too Late to Save Kashmir’s Purple Fields?

In Kashmir, saffron is grown mainly in Pulwama and Budgam districts. However, in the central district of Budgam, saffron land is shrinking and many growers have planted apple and almond trees on their land. Growers have said that the dwindling produce and the low market rates were responsible for their switch-over to other crops. Moreover, the soil lifting form in such areas according to experts has also shrunk the saffron land.

A grower displaying threads of saffron which he had stored in a mud pot before it got sold: Photo: Shahid Mushtaq.

Pollution

Factories, mostly relating to cement, have come up in the areas adjacent to the fields. Besides affecting humans, the dust and smoke coming out of these factories have also affected the cultivation of saffron.

“When there is a rise in diseases among humans due to pollution caused by these cement factories, why would not it affect the growth of saffron? With the establishment of factories, we are witnessing even more of a decline in production,” said Rouf Ahmed, another grower.

Pollution generating factories have come up in areas like Khrew and Lethpora in the town, which also fall in the saffron growing belt. Earlier, people from the areas had protested against the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities towards the issue of factory pollution.

An improperly maintained saffron field with weak flowers. Photo: Raashid Hassan.

Experts this reporter talked to, however, believed that pollution has a very minimal role in the decrease in production.

Dr Ghulam Hassan Pir, a senior pathologist at Sheri Kashmir Agricultural University of Sciences (SKAUST) deputed to the NSM, told The Wire that several factors were responsible for the downfall of the sector.

He claimed that the faecal matter of the grazing livestock in the said fields provided it with nutrients that helped in productive crop, but with the decline in the local livestock, that does not happen anymore.

“It was found that the manure coming from the grazing flocks of livestock in fields provided suitable nutrients for saffron but, with the decline in local livestock, no grazing in such fields takes place and hence there is low production,” he said and added that it also kept land rodents at bay.

On the use of larger corms, Pir said that it was followed with the intention that production value per hectare would increase. He claimed that the farmers in the area looked for short-cuts to increase production but it had failed.

Also read: Loss to Farmers in Kashmir Could Be More Than Rs 7,000 Crore: Farmers Body

“Saffron fields need to be ploughed at least a dozen times during a year, which is what growers had done, but within a month or two, and it had its adverse effects,” he said.

A grower detaching saffron threads from a flower. Photo: Shahid Mushtaq.

He added that the growers did not follow the advice of the scientists. Once the seeds were washed with the pesticides, they had to be dried before sowing, which they failed to do.

Use of inexperienced labour

Kashmir has remained heavily dependent on non-local labourers and saffron growers to plough or remove weeds in the fields. According to experts, the labourers are not aware of the growth and sensitive nature of saffron. Often while working, they cause injuries to corns, resulting in damage to seeds, and thus the produce.

Communication gap

The government before introducing the NSM, didn’t properly spread awareness amongst the farmers. An official said that the government gave Rs 25,000 to people for every kanal of land, which mislead the growers.

Saffron plants covered with multiple weeds. Photo: Raashid Hassan.

“When we are introducing a new thing, it eventually needs awareness. Government at that time introduced new methods to boost the sector, but people found those opposite to their traditional farming practice, “said an official wishing not to be named.

Professor Bashir Ahmad Illahi, head of the Saffron Research Station, however, believes that there was no communication barrier and that many of the traditional growers were not ready to implement modern scientific measures.

Meanwhile, SKAUST, considering the challenges faced by saffron and other vegetable growers in Kashmir, has identified some beneficial microbes that work against soil-borne diseases, particularly of saffron.

Raashid Hassan is a journalist based in South Kashmir.

Centre Procures Less Than 1% of Apples Produced in Kashmir

The government has procured only 7,940 metric tonnes of apples from the Kashmir valley in the 2019-20 season through NAFED, in what was a widely criticised move.

New Delhi: The government has procured only 7,940 metric tonnes of apples from the Kashmir valley in the 2019-20 season, according to its response to a question in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

The figure amounts to less than 1% of Kashmir’s apple production, which has averaged around 18 lakh metric tonnes in the last few years. In 2018-19, apple production in the valley stood at 18.5 lakh metric tonnes.

In September as the apple harvest in the valley began, reports emerged of difficulties faced by apple growers in selling their produce owing to the communications blockade and transport restrictions that the Centre had imposed after the August 5 decision to read down Article 370 and bifurcate the state into two Union Territories.

Also read: Why Apple Procurement in J&K Will Not Be Easy

In response, the Centre announced that it will procure apples from growers through the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED). At the time, it estimated that it will be procuring 13 lakh metric tonnes of apples from the valley. The amounts would be transferred directly into the bank accounts of growers, the government said.

But, now the government’s response in the Lok Sabha makes it clear that its efforts have failed as it has procured less than 1% of its own target and even less of a percentage of the total apple production of the valley.

“It’s a big failure. The scheme was a joke from the beginning. And now the season is over,” said social scientist and political Yogendra Yadav.

An orchard where half of the apple produce has fallen but the grower is yet to pick it up. Photo: Raashid Hassan

Recently, Yadav was part of a seven-member delegation which went to the valley on a three-day visit to assess the losses suffered by farmers due to unseasonal snowfall and the severe security clampdown in force since August 5.

Yadav and his team had also noted that NAFED has been able to procure less than 1% of the apple production in the valley. The delegation pinned the blame on NAFED’s ‘lack of experience and infrastructure’.

Soon after the government’s announcement in September that it will procure apples from the valley, Siraj Hussain, writing for The Wire, pointed out that the going was not going to be easy. He said that NAFED will find itself ‘logistically stretched’.

“Setting up procurement centres, grading and packaging the apples, finding labour in Kashmir valley for loading, arranging trucks for transportation to mandis across India and selling them through auctions in opaque mandis is going to be extremely challenging,” Hussain wrote.

Former finance minister of Jammu and Kashmir Haseeb Drabu is not surprised that the government’s efforts have failed.

Also read: Amidst Reports of Losses, Govt Announces Direct Procurement of Kashmiri Apples

“The season is over. Of course, the ill-conceived initiative has failed as expected,” he told The Wire.

“You cannot replace a business network built over decades with a government agency which is disinterested and is doing it by diktat! NAFED has no understanding or network or reach to procure apples from growers. On their part, at this point of time, the growers will not engage with a government agency for obvious reasons. Also, why will they sell to NAFED who they are not even sure will be there in future to buy their produce?” he asked.

Apple trade is key to J&K’s economy, with an annual turnover pegged at Rs 8,000 crore. As many as 33 lakh families are estimated to be dependent on the fruit’s trade.

Now, due to the extraordinary curbs imposed by the Centre after its August 5 decision, the apple economy of J&K is in peril.

Yadav’s seven-member delegation is of the view, based on conversation with growers and trade organisations, that the total loss suffered in the valley could be in excess of Rs 7,000 crore.