The Kareva lands of south and central Kashmir, once covered with almond orchards, are rapidly losing their traditional landscape as farmers remove trees to make space for construction and apple plantations. The trend is threatening one of the region's oldest horticultural crops.
Official data indicate a sharp fall in almond cultivation over the past decade. The orchard area declined from 16,374 hectares in 2006–07 to 4,177 hectares in 2019–20, while production dropped from 15,183 tons to 9,898 tons during the same period.
For generations, almonds marked the arrival of spring in Kashmir, when blossoms turned the elevated Kareva plateaus into fields of pink and white. "We used to depend on almonds for our livelihood, but the returns are no longer worth the effort," said Abdul Majeed, a farmer from Budgam district. He said that hard-shell almonds were priced at about US$0.48 per kg in 1990 and now sell for between US$1.56 and US$1.80 per kg.
Many farmers have shifted to apple cultivation or converted their orchards into residential land. Jammu and Kashmir produces more than 90% of India's almonds, both hard- and paper-shell varieties, grown mainly across the Kareva regions. The nuts are almost entirely organic and known for their flavour, with soft-shell types such as Makhddoom and Waris remaining popular.
However, falling prices, limited market access, and a lack of processing and branding facilities have discouraged growers. "Kashmir produces a variety of nuts, yet there is no dedicated dry fruit mandi," Majeed said.
Tariq Rasool, Associate Professor at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, noted that efforts to promote soft-shell varieties such as Waris and Mukhdoom have not succeeded. "These varieties yield four to five times less than traditional hard-shell types under the same cultivation conditions," he said. "They also face severe bird damage due to delayed hull splitting and require heavy manual labour for hull removal, which cannot be done using traditional or existing machines."
Experts warn that without consistent government support, better market infrastructure, and the introduction of high-yielding, disease-resistant varieties, almond cultivation in Kashmir may continue to decline.
Source: The Hindu Businessline
