Suhail Bhat
Srinagar, Sept 19: With the onset of harvesting season, the apple growers in Kashmir are finding it hard to sell their produce as the closure of local fruit mandis have plummeted down the prices sharply.
All the local fruit mandis which used to be abuzz with the customers and wholesalers wear a deserted look these days owing to ongoing unrest.
Every year hundreds of wholesalers and exporters from Delhi Azadpur Mandi would visit seven fruit markets at Srinagar, Sopore, Baramulla, Shopian, Pulwama, Kulgam and Charar-e-Sharief but the mandis are fortified with security forces these days which is preventing them to operate even in night hours.
Shafat Ahmad, an apple grower in south Kashmir’s Apple town Shopian, said the continued closure of fruit mandis has dented their business badly. “One case of fruit would fetch me around Rs 1000-1200 in normal days but these days, I sold the same cases at half prices including the ferrying charges. This has badly affected my business,” he said.
He further alleged that the response from the dealers at Jammu was cold and their fruit laden trucks have to wait for a long time to get unloaded. “Some of the varieties of Apple like Molish, Balgarian, and real delicious cannot wait that long owing to their less shelf life. This has forced us to sell our produce at lower prices. This is the only options left for us at this time or we have let it rot,” added Shafat.
Another apple trader, Mushtaq Ahmad, said the major challenge was of work-force that hasn’t been able to move freely amid restrictions. “Since people who pluck and pack apples are experts, who themselves have apple orchards, we cannot take services of normal labourer. These people either move from north to south or vice versa owing to difference in the ripening timings. The continued lockdown has curtailed their movement which has resulted in the rotting of some apples,” he said.
Bashir Ahmad, the president of Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers Association, said the continued restrictions were not allowing the locals mandis to operate. “There is a huge deployment of forces around the mandis which is the reason behind the loss. But the loss of nearly eighty people in the ongoing unrest is more than what we have suffered,” he added.
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