Cherry brings gloom to farmers

The production hits all time low due to inclement weather: Growers

 Srinagar, June 19

Cherry a red and delicate fruit produced mostly in Kashmir this time has brought gloom on the faces of growers who say this year’s weather has routed the crop and any hopes of revenue generation from it.
Production of this monopoly crop – Kashmir produces 70 percent of total cherry produced in India – has gone through a heavy loss during last two years. Growers say that 2011 and 2012 were the worst years. Last year its revenue may have satisfied the farmers a bit but this year it is worst than ever before, growers say.

Talking to Kashmir Reader, Ishfaq Ahmed Magray a fruit grower from North Kashmir’s Tangmarg area, which holds distinction in the highest cherry production in the Valley says, “It is horrible. We witnessed more than 75 percent loss this year.”

“When the blossom was at its peak the frequent rainfall, hailstorm and snowfall washed away all our blossom and we were left with nothing,” said Magray.

Kashmir is one among the cherry producing state besides Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Most of the cherry crop is exported to New Delhi, which accounts for 70 percent of total production from Kashmir. Mumbai is the second biggest market for Kashmiri cherries.

Most of the cherry producing places in Kashmir are Ganderbal, Zabarwan hills in Srinagar, South Kashmir’s Shopian and North Kashmir’s Tangmarg, Baramulla and Bandipora.  

“In some cherry producing areas like Ganderbal, Tangmarg and Shopian, the production has witnessed a loss of up to 70 percent due to rainfall and hailstorm,” says Ali Mohammad Ganai, a grower from Ganderbal.

“This year the crop was hit twice. First when the blossom was at its best we sold it to brokers. Later when the rainfall and windstorm divested everything, brokers turned away the deal.”

Ganai says though the prices this year are good but due to minimum crop production farmers hardly get any benefits.  Last year 1 kg was sold at Rs70 to Rs80 but this year it has reached at Rs150 to Rs160 per kg. Despite of such a high price, Ganie says, still are not minimizing farmers’ losses.
Kashmir cherry is famous for its delicious varieties, which include Double Gilas, Gilas Makhmali and Gilas Mishri. According to Ganai, the costly variety here is Gilas Mishri, which is considered as a king of all the varieties available here. Gilas Mishri used to generate 60 percent of revenue in overall production but this year we have restricted boxes of Mishri because the hailstorm had washed everything.

Talking to Kashmir Reader Dr Fayaz Ahmad Banday, associate director, extension education, SKUAST said, “In the early phase of blossom there was a weather fluctuation which has damaged its blossom then the hailstorm damaged it further.”

He added that growers should adapt new scientific techniques to address the demands of market.