Kashmir walnut industry in 'shambles'
President of Jammu and Kashmir Walnut Growers’ and Dealers’ Association, Haji Bahadur Khan said, “There is total lack of infrastructure in this industry. We don’t have full-fledged mandis, dumping facilities, and processing and packaging units in most of the walnut producing districts of the Valley.”
“It takes a lot of money to establish infrastructure for processing of walnuts and walnut kernels. Obviously, the growers cannot afford it. Besides, they are scattered across different districts and therefore cannot set up the infrastructure at one place,” Khan said.
He alleged that banks are not ready to give the soft loans to growers and walnut dealers and “there is no intervention by the Horticulture department to mitigate the problems of people associated with this industry”
"After the apple, walnut is the major source of income for thousands of families in the Kashmir valley. But due to the apathetic attitude of the state and the centre governments, this important segment of our economy is in shambles.”
Khan said the diseases and frequent hailstorms are badly affecting the quality, colour and production of the fruit as a result of which “the export of walnut is facing severe threat.”
The growers said their income from walnuts was declining. “It is unfortunate that most of the districts in the Valley lack mandis, packing and grading units, and other facilities, as a result the growers and the dealers have to rely on manual operations which consumes a lot of time and labour,” they said.
“Due to lack of proper dumping facilities growers and dealers lay the kernels in the open where they are exposed to dust, rains and diseases which badly affect their quality and the colour,” the growers said.
Source: greaterkashmir.com
