Arjumand Wani
Shopian July 9: Two days of rain caused cherry fruit to split in parts of Kashmir, growers in southern part of the valley are evaluating the damage during their cherry harvesting season.
According to orchardists, damage from the rain affected mostly two varieties including Mishri, one of the superior variety of the drupe.
Peer M. Amin, president fruit mandi Shopian while talking to Kashmir Despatch over phone said, the damage to the crop is almost 50% due to rains. He said it adversely will affect the market as the superior variety Mishri and Jaddi are almost unharvested.
“These two varieties are superior as we export it to other big states like Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata etc, ” Amin said.
“In our area, , all of the orchardists have had some level or full damage to the fruit,” said Milad, a grower from Losdenow, a Cherry rich village in Shopian district. He told Kashmir Despatch that, the crop in their village is almost unharvested.
He added that in Kathahalan, Losdanew, Sadipora, Malik Gund, Amshipora, and other cherry-producing villages of the area, the two sweet drupe varieties—Jaddi and Mishri—have not yet been picked.
However, while the fruit is damaged, there are still some varieties that are not affected or very slightly affected like, “Makhmal” and “Double” as these varieties were harvested earlier before rain.
Basit Yousuf, a fruit farmer from Shopian told Kashmir Despatch, “We certainly do not want any more rains. Although waiting more days would have been convenient, but we can not take more risk so we decided to pick the fruit amid rains.” He said the damage has been done still they tried their best to save what’s remaining.
“It will definitely make the entire process of harvesting and packing much more challenging and time-consuming.” He claimed.
Pertinently south and central Kashmir districts including mainly Shopian, Srinagar and Ganderbal are the main cherry producers.
Cherries are grown on more than 2,800 hectares in Kashmir. In 2019-2020, more than 12,000 tonnes of fruits were produced in Kashmir.
