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Nod to high-density plantation on 5,500 hectares in J&K
The fruits identified for high-density plantation are apple, walnut, almond, cherry, litchi, and olive
The Jammu and Kashmir government has given its nod to setting up high-density plantations on 5,500 hectares after the administrative council, which met under the chairpersonship of lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha in Jammu on Thursday, approved the implementation of high-density plantation scheme in the horticulture sector with the support of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd.
“This step will go a long way in enhancing the quality and quantity of horticulture produce and doubling farmers’ income,” the government spokesman said.
The fruits identified for high-density plantation are apple, walnut, almond, cherry, litchi, and olive. The produce will be planted in suitable agro-climatic zones for six years from March, 2021.
“The new high-density plantation scheme has provisions to provide 50% subsidy to orchardists for the same accompanied by a loan facility for raising 40% of the remaining capital. The scheme will also provide subsidies to growers on account of expenditure related to micro-irrigation, plant material, and anti-hail nets. Under the scheme, preference will be given to farmers with landholdings of less than 4 kanal,” a spokesperson said.
“The high-density plantations are expected to make horticulture profitable through superior yields, higher yields per hectare, early harvest, and introduction of insect and pest- resistant varieties thereby saving the expenditure on disease and pest control,” the spokesperson said.
NAFED will also install a high-tech laboratory for certification of horticulture produce as per international standards, virus-indexing laboratories, and will arrange for imports of specified qualities and species from identified countries.
In the last two years, 5,000 kanals (625 acres) of high-density orchards have been established in the Valley. They are likely to start producing fruit within one or two years. Medium-density plantations that bear fruit after five years have been set up over 48,000 kanals ( 6,000 acres) across Kashmir, as per official data.
Horticulture director Ajaz Ahmad Bhat says, “We are way behind on our target to convert old orchards into high density or medium density ones. But once it is done the production will go up. Area-wise Kashmir is on the top but when it comes to production we are still far behind. Thus, we are encouraging growers to replace old orchards with new ones.”
Of late, the J&K government has taken several steps to boost the sector by providing high-yielding plants to growers. “Around 2 lakh quality plants have been grown in public sector nurseries and distributed among the famers in Kashmir,” Bhat said.
