WE THE PEOPLE
Apples, walnuts and cherry contribute largely to Kashmir’s economy by way of exports to different parts of the globe
But people connected with horticulture demand creation of pack house and storage facilities besides Market Information System to boost production
By: Dr. G.M. Wani
Srinagar: Apple is an important principal crop of J&K State. The state produced 10414017 MT of apples from 100702 ha of orchard area during year 2005-2006. The state contributes 57% of national production of apples, while as Himachal Pradesh contributes 24% despite having received considerable governmental attention. The state produces early, mid and late season cultivation of apple. The commercial apple varieties are Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Ambri, White Dotted Red, Royal delicious Kulu Delicious, Hazratbali, Benoni.
Post harvest handling of apple encapsulated many management decisions and processes that are involved in harvesting, handling, storage, packing and transport of apple fruit necessary to provide consumer with an acceptable and product. The characteristics of apple which determine its acceptance in market place are size, shape, colour, texture, flavour, juiciness, freedom from blemishes and bruises. A proper export oriented packaging, sanitary evaluation and eco-friendly shall improve its consumer acceptability under WTO regime.
As regards walnut, it may be stated that it is an important nut crop grown in the state of J&K. The state produces 86263 tones of walnut from an area of 61723 hectares with the productivity of 1.39 tones/ha and has monopoly in the export to many countries of the world. Walnut cultivation is common in Badarwah, Poonch, Kupwara, Baramulla, Bandipora, Ganderbal, Budgam, Srinagar, Anantnag and other hilly areas of J&K. Walnut are consumed as luxury snacks as well as commercially used for preparation of bakery products, chocolates, ice cream, ornaments, oils, confectionery and salad products. Shells are sued in glue and plastics and for making solutions for cleaning and polishing surfaces.
But there are constraints in walnut trade, which need to be addressed.
These include awareness of maturity indices, method of harvesting and non-scientific de-hulling. Besides there are post harvest bottlenecks such as improper storage, drying, grading practices at farm level. Lack of awareness about sanitary conditions to handle nuts and lack of integrated handling system to manage the nuts. Non-adoption of international standards of grades and lack of processing/storage facilities/orchard management.
Pertinent to mention that cherry is another important fruit crop of the valley, which is being marketed outside the state. In Kashmir cherry is the first fruit crop which comes to the market and fetches good prices. The quality of fruit is good in cool climate. Cherries after harvest is to be pre-cooled, stored packed and carried under refrigerated conditions to the terminal market. The fruit transport under refrigerated condition remains healthy for a longer period, compared to the fruits stored under ambient conditions. Storage, packaging, transport and preservation are needed at local level.
For export of horticulture produce, we have to integrate production activities with post harvest management. Infrastructural facilities for Pre-cooling, packaging, grading, processing centers, refrigerated vans, cold storage, cargo handling facility at airport, laboratories for pesticide residue analysis, good road connectivity, market promotion through IT network, credit facility for exporters and awareness programmes are essential prerequisites for export of horticultural produce from the state.
“Major problems in Horticulture being poor quality planting materials & its inspection mechanization. Low disease diagnostic appliances and poor orchard management. Low capital-small farmer-holdings and poor technological applications. Besides poor post-harvest handling, industrial base and poor quality control measures and laboratories. Marketing network modernization and poor database and electronic use. Hence new options such as germplasm base, analysis, collection of materials across the state are needed. Besides standardization of rootstock for all important crops, development of horticultural cropping systems for all districts and certification and quality control laboratories need attention,” say people connected with horticulture trade.
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