Apple-growers in Kashmir in dilemma after unseasonal snowfall destroys orchards across Valley; loss may touch Rs 1,000 crore

Rafiabad, Barmulla:. On Monday morning, Rafiq Ahmad Dar, a tall and middle-aged man donning a Kashmiri pheran, walked across a narrow path that leads to his apple orchard in Rafiabad area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district. Even from a distance, the devastation wreaked by the unexpected snowfall is clearly visible. When Dar reached the entrance, he turned his eyes towards the pile of apples buried under  heaps of snow. He couldn’t control his emotions and broke into tears seeing the nature’s fury that dashed his hopes.

“I am finished,” Dar said, surveying the apple trees which have been ravaged by early snowfall. “Not just me, my entire family is devastated. My years of hard-work has gone in vain. I will not be able to recover from this shock for next ten years,” he said.

Living near the well-known apple town of Sopore, Dar and his family used to spend the last fortnight of October every year for harvesting their apple crop. For the past one decade, skilled labourers have been helping them pack the apple crop in wooden or cardboard boxes, which would later find their way to the markets across the country.

This year, however, a dip in prices of apple and frequent blockade of Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, the only road that links the Kashmir Valley with the rest of India, forced Dar to delay the harvest. With landslides persistently blocking the highway, apple traders became anxious. As Diwali was approaching, apple growers started harvesting, hoping to yield a good price for their produce.

When the highway opened for traffic early last week, Dar and his family, including his wife and cousins, hired labourers and started harvesting the ‘Golden Delicious’, a prized and cherished variety of Kashmiri apple that fetches better price than the normal apple in the open market.

From Tuesday to Friday, the Dar family along with the labourers toiled hard in the apple orchard. The harvest was good but the weather turned bad on Thursday in the Valley. Dar woke up to a heavy snowfall on Friday morning raising his concerns about the standing apple crops.

“I have taken a bank loan, which I used to repay with the earnings from the apple orchard. The school fee of my children was paid from this income too. Besides, my sister is getting married next year. I had taken advance payment from the commission agent to meet the marriage expenses. How will I repay all that now?” Dar asked.

The Kashmir Valley witnessed the first snowfall in November on Friday evening after a gap of nine years. But it happened like blight on the Valley’s apple orchards, a main source of income for the people there. The snowfall caused massive damage to apple trees as it accumulated on the leaves and fruit-laden branches. Experts say about 30 percent of the apple crops across north and south Kashmir was yet to be harvested.

On an average, Kashmir Valley’s apple production is about 17 lakh metric tonnes per year. As per the economic survey of 2017, apples worth Rs 6,500 crore were exported.

But the scale of damage caused to the apple orchards due to the snowfall is something which will take years or even decades together for the farmers to recover from. The apple industry has witnessed certain shifts in the past few years. A better transportation system will help the apple growers transport their produce to farther distances including Bangladesh and, thanks to cold-storage warehouses, wholesalers and retailers could keep them for long time when the prices are not appropriate.

“The snowfall has destroyed the apple trees. We will feel the magnitude of loss in the coming years because the production of apple will go down drastically,” said Manzoor Ahmad Qadri, the director of Horticulture Department of Kashmir region.

“Fruit trees have been damaged everywhere and it would affect the production as well. The trees have been sliced into three and four. It takes some 10 years or more for a tree to bear fruit,” he said.

“Till a proper survey is carried out, we can’t ascertain the extent of damage caused by the snowfall,” Qadri added.

In a video that went viral on social media, a young farmer in south Kashmir is seen inconsolably weeping at the loss of the annual apple crop. He breaks down while vainly uncovering the ripe apples and branches of the trees buried under mounds of snow.

“What a devastation that you wreaked upon us, oh God?” he asked.

Around seven  lakh families, comprising about 33 lakh people, are directly or indirectly associated with horticulture.

The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry has estimated the initial loss caused due to the unseasonal snowfall at about Rs 500 crore. However, the actual figure may go up given the amount of devastation that the apple orchards witnessed.

In south Kashmir, which produces most of the apple crop in the state, the orchardists say that 50 percent of the produce was yet to be harvested and it is now laying under the heaps of snow.

Manzoor Ahmad, a resident of Keller, said that the mature branches of hundreds of apple trees were damaged in his village. “If the snowfall continues during this week, the trees may sustain more damage. Snow accumulates on leaves and it adds weight on the branches.”

“As per a preliminary assessment, 25-30 percent damage has been recorded in Anantnag district. Significant damage has been recorded in areas like Mehand, Sirgufwara, Sallar-Kollar, Shalgam, Sirhama, Budur and Lever besides many other villages in Shangus and Kokernag constituencies of the district.

The fact that the harvested crop that is still lying under snow has added to the concerns of the farmers,” Mohammad Yasin, chief horticulture officer of Anantnag, said.

The revenue department of Jammu and Kashmir government is carrying out a survey to assess the damage caused to the orchards in the snowfall. A top revenue officer said that the government valued the trees as per their age.

“A mature tree’s value is around Rs 37,000 and that of a young tree is Rs 17,000,” he said, adding that the figure of losses might cross Rs 1,000 crore.

In Dar’s orchard, the weight of snow on the branches of apple trees has virtually damaged the stem of majority of the apple trees in the middle.

“A mature tree is a labour of love for an orchardist. Every year, the tree has to be cared, its branches trimmed and manure added to make it ready for the next harvest season. But the snow has devastated everything,” Dar said.