India: Lots of kashmiri apples, not enough facilities to store them cold
"Kashmir needs to add 3 lakh tonnes to its cold storage capacity," says Qazi Aijaz, deputy director (planning and marketing), horticulture. According to Aijaz, there are only seven cold storage units in Kashmir with a storage capacity around 35,000 tonnes.
"The absence of cold storage facilities affects the price of Kashmiri apples in the national market," says Ehsan Javaid, who owns Golden Apple Cold Storage in south Kashmir's Pulwama district. Ehsan, whose unit has a capacity of 2,000 tonnes and who plans to raise it to 5,000, points out that the state's cold storage capacity is negligible compared to its production.
"There is a lot of business potential in cold storage and at the same time, it can be a source of employment for a lot of farmers, youths and even engineers," says Ehsan. "Since we don't have enough cold storage facilities, we are not being able to regulate the supply of our apples in the market, which in turn brings prices down."
The existing facilities are usually used up for high-grade apples to preserve their quality and taste. The valley finds most of its apples being sold in bulk rather than round the year.
Whatever cold-storage business Kashmir has is all privately owned, with the government giving subsidy to those who take it up. The government says it encourages the setting up of such facilities, but owners of units complain that documentation and approval from various departments take a long time.
But it is not only cold storage that is lacking. Apple growers complain also about a lack of government interest in the horticulture sector in general and the apple industry in particular. Over the last few years, the share of quality apples in the total produce has decreased significantly, farmers say. This year, in addition to the outbreak of a disease that affected apple quality, pesticides and fungicides in the market too were substandard, they say.
Source: indianexpress.com
