Srinagar, Oct 20: Even as Kashmir lost a good crop of fruit to untimely and incessant rains earlier this year, the Valley based fruit growers alleged that the government did not come to their rescue.
 “Due to untimely rains early this year, most of the crops were completely destroyed. However, the horticulture department has not provided us with any support at all,” said Bashir Ahmad Basheer, Chairman Trade, New Kashmir Fruit Growers Association.
 According to the growers while the apple, pear, apricot, cherry and plum were marginally destroyed, the worst affected fruit was the pear. “Both the pear varieties viz. Baboo Gosha and Nakh Kashmiri were completely damaged,” he said.
 Besides, fruits like apple and pear had attained some deadly diseases like Scab and black dots due to rains, they said.
 “However, the pesticides that were prescribed by the Horticulture department did not work at all,” said Basheer.
  “Actually there is a dire need to aware and educate the growers on regular basis as to how to tackle the diseases, which, however, the department has not done so far,” he alleged.
 The growers said each season six to seven crore boxes of fruit were produced in the Valley, of which a large chunk was completely damaged due to rains. “And the fruits that survived the harsh weather, their quality was highly degraded,” they said.
 The growers demanded Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the ruptured fruits. “Earlier the government would procure C-grade fruits under the MSP. But the practice has been stopped without giving any reason,” they said, demanding that the MSP should be restored.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:00:00 IST