Apeeling Apple | Farmers elated at high returns for low-yield

Shopian: Amid a cacophony of sounds, traders from various outstation states are busy buying apples while hundreds of labourers are loading trucks with apple cartons.

This is the scene at Fruit Mandi Shopian.

Since the beginning of the harvesting season, the newly constructed fruit mandi located on the bank of the gurgling Rambiara stream in Aglar village has been witnessing brisk business.

At least more than 100 apple firms from different states of the country are procuring apples from the mandi.

President of Fruit Mandi Shopian, Muhammad Amin Peer told Greater Kashmir that the mandi daily receives 80,000 to 1 lakh apple boxes.

“A fleet of over 80 apple-laden trucks leave for outstation mandis every day,” Peer said.

The district is one of the highest apple-producing areas in Kashmir with around 26,000 hectares (5,14,000 kanal) of land under apple cultivation.

The area produces first-rate apples of different varieties with significantly longer shelf life than other areas.

The most sought-after varieties include Kullu Delicious and Red Delicious. Ambri and Golden Delicious are the other varieties cultivated in the area.

Although last year the area experienced a bumper crop, the farmers failed to reap dividends due to low market prices.

Other factors like the frequent closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway and imports from Iran also impacted the market. “Last year, the glut of apples from Iran via Afghanistan, and some other countries forced down the prices. However, this season things seem different,” said Muhammad Ashraf, a trader and fruit grower.

The farmers say that the yield dipped by 40 to 50 percent from last year.

However, the comparatively better prices this season have cheered the farmers.

A first-rate apple carton of 15 kg is sold between Rs 1200 to Rs 1400 as against Rs 700 to Rs 800 last year.

Similarly, the B- grade apples are sold at Rs 800 to Rs 1000, which is at least 20 percent higher than last year’s prices.

“We hope that the prices improve further or, at least, remain static,” Ashraf said.

He said that dozens of apple traders from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and other states were buying the produce from the mandi.

The growers were also storing their harvest in different Controlled Atmosphere (CA) stores in the area.

“Due to a significant dip in the production and better prices, we were expecting that the cold stores would remain vacant, but copious supplies make their way into CA stores,” Ashraf said.