It was reported that Indian apple growers were facing a huge Alterniya disease problem, as apple crops were dealt a massive blow. Governor N.N. Vora paid a visit to the area at Khiribal in Anantnag and expressed his wishes to take measures that will benefit apple growers.
Vivek Bhardwaj, Deputy Director & Head CII J&K State, gave an update on the situation: "Governor N. N. Vohra and his team are taking serious note of the concerns being faced by Industry across the region. They are working pro-actively and taking stock of the situation."
Although it was reported that crops other than apples also took a slight hit, Bhardwaj claims this was falsely reported. How substantial the damages to the apple crops are, has not yet been published: "There has been no scientific assessment yet. The department is working on assessing the damage. As you may be aware, Hilal Ahmad Shah is General Secretary of the J&K Pradesh Congress Committee, tomorrow you may see another political figure making a statement for the betterment of Growers."
So with the apple growers taking a massive hit to their income, the suggestion was made that the farmers' KCC loans should be dismissed. However the government has not made a final decision on this issue yet. So how did this terrible event come to be? Bhardwaj has an idea about where it all started:
"Alterniya diseases have hit Kashmir earlier also on epidemic level in 2013, but it was not taken that seriously that time as compared to scab. The major source of this epidemic is suspected to be improper sanitation of orchards, use of pesticides and also climate change. This year we have unusual continued rain after high temperatures, just like we did in 2013. So lack of disease forecasting mechanism is probably the main reason." says Bhardwaj.
For now, the focus lies on preventing the Alterniya disease doing more damage to crops. "The government is reaching out to farmers and growers to help them reduce the effect of this disease with steps like pruning the affected leaves. Also an IEC campaign is being undertaken by government regarding this."