Director General Horticulture Kashmir revealed this week that the horticulture sector is expecting a bumper crop of cherry and strawberry this year due to the favourable weather conditions.
The growers and trading community are expecting good earnings this season. However, the recent spell of rains and hailstorm have, however, cast a spell of doubt on the ‘bumper crop’ as many of the fruit orchids got damaged at different places in the valley according to www.risingkashmir.com
Horticulture is one of the important sectors of Jammu and Kashmir and contributes immensely to the economy of the UT. The valley of Kashmir is endowed with rich horticulture products like apple, cherry, almond, walnut, plum, strawberry, apricot, saffron etc and among these cherry, walnut, almond and saffron are the monopoly products.
Given the importance of the sector in the economy of the UT, concrete measures are needed to prevent it from risks that arise because of weather or natural calamities, lack of adequate infrastructure, marketing and others. Horticulture forms the fundamental strength of the rural economy of the UT and with a yearly turnover of around Rs 10,000 crore, it provides direct and indirect employment to more than 35 lakh persons. Furthermore, it is also contributing 8% to Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).
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