Srinagar, May 13: The poor retention of apple on the trees has sent shock waves among fruit cultivators who fear a low production this year in Valley.
 The fruit growers believe the agro-climatic conditions that prevailed in March were not supportive to the crop. “My orchard spreading over 20 kanal had a good crop last year, but this year the trees have retained poor fruit probably due to adverse weather,” Bashir Ahmad, a grower from Sopore told Greater Kashmir.
 Fruit industry mainly consisting of apple is considered to be the backbone of Kashmir economy. With over 1,26,000 hectares under apple cultivation, the production in 2010 surpassed 18 lakh metric tonne yielding a whopping Rs 2700 crore.
 The production is feared to be low in other major apple producing belts including Anantnag (Islamabad, Kulgam, and Shopian in the Valley.
 “I hardly see any apple on trees in my orchard,” said Altaf Ahmad of Shopian.
 Nonetheless, officials of horticulture department sound hopeful about a moderate to good crop. “The situation is not as grim as being projected by the growers. If weather favours, there will be moderate to good crop in the coming season,” they said.
 Director Horticulture Kashmir, Dr Ghulam Hassan Shah, however, has a different version. “The apple crop in the Valley is not poor and nothing can be said in this regard until mid June,” Shah told Greater Kashmir.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 13 May 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 13 May 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 14 May 2011 00:00:00 IST