Prices plummet despite good harvest, Kashmir strawberry growers worried
The strawberry farmers, shifting from vegetables and paddy in recent years, are busy harvesting the berries in the valley as the production has been relatively good like last year
Despite a relatively good harvest of season’s first crop - strawberries - in Kashmir, the Pahalgam attack and subsequent war like situation between India and Pakistan affected the returns of growers.
The strawberry farmers, shifting from vegetables and paddy in recent years, are busy harvesting the berries in the valley as the production has been relatively good like last year. Yet, they are not happy.
“The rates are very less, almost half of what were last year. The dealers tell us that the fall was owing to the security situation, both on surface and in air. Good tourist presence in the valley would trigger good demand and we would get good returns,” said elderly Ghulam Nabi from Gussu village who started harvesting the crop from May 5 this year.
Strawberry farming is a recent practice in Kashmir. Most farmers in Srinagar and parts of Ganderbal in central Kashmir, who shifted to strawberry farming, used to grow vegetables earlier. Gussu village has the highest number of people growing strawberries. Only few farmers grow other fruits on their land.
The annual strawberry production in Kashmir is more than 2,500 to 3,500 metric tonnes and the growers earn more than ₹20 to 30 crore as the fruit is grown over more than 300 to 350 hectares of land. In Gussu village, some 60 farmers and their families harvest crops on around 150 kanals of land.
Most of the strawberries in Kashmir are consumed locally.
Another farmer of the village, Manzoor Ahmad said that they had a bumper crop like last year but faced a slump in market. “The crop was good but the Pahalgam attack pushed the market down and the situation turned further bad. In normal times, tourists and locals would come here and buy directly. The exodus of tourists and the closure of schools and colleges (during the subsequent military confrontation) pushed the demand as well as rates down,” Ahmad said.
A terror attack on tourists on April 22 in Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam killed 26 civilians, mostly tourists, triggering a flight of tourists out of the valley. On May 7, India targeted terror infrastructure at nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam attack. For four days, the militaries and airforce of the two nations carried out missile and drone attacks on each other till a ceasefire was announced on May 10.
Ahmad, who plants strawberries on 4 kanal of his land, said that he had started harvesting the crop on April 20 and could find a start difference in the rates pre and post the Pahalgam attack.
“Before the attack the rates were touching ₹500 per tray ( 2.5 kg) which came down to around 230-250 per tray. The rates have now stabilised to around ₹300-350 but the harvesting is now almost complete,” he said.
Officials also confirmed a good production of strawberries this year except in some hailstorm affected areas.
M Amin, technical officer in horticulture department, said that the strawberries have been stored in cold storages.
“The production is good. There were hailstorms in a few areas which, however, didn’t cause any appreciable damage. Post harvesting, there were some issues (due to situation) as the fruits were in transit but that was a temporary phase. Now it is normalising,” he said.
