Shopian: Incessant rains and hailstorm have left apple growers in distress in south Kashmir.
Since the beginning of last month, multiple spells of rain followed by hailstorm caused huge damage to orchards in all the four district–Shopian, Pulwama, Kulgam and Anantnag–of south Kashmir, leaving the growers and traders distraught.
The low apple crop in many apple rich areas had already unsettled the farmers, the perennial rains and hailstorm spells in some areas only added to their woes. ” It has been tipping down continuously for the last three days and it is bound to have a baneful effect on the crop”, said Peerzada Shabir Ahmad, an apple grower and president Pesticide Dealers Association, Shopian.
“The symptoms of scab have begun appearing on leaves and fruit in some areas”, said Ahmad. He said that the farming community is in utter distress. “Earlier many hailstorm spells in the area had damaged the crop”, said Ahmad.
Pertinently, last month a few spells of hailstorm lashed several parts of south Kashmir, knocking down the fruit and stripping the trees of leaves. Many farmers from Pulwama and Anantnag said that the incessant rains affected their apple farms. “There is much moisture in our farms that could result in scab”, they said.
In neighbouring Kulgam district where hail pellets last month spelt doom for apple orchards in several village like Mandobal, Manzgam, Rewatan, Korel and Tangamarg villages, the continuous rains are set to cause further damage to the orchards.
Tariq Rasool, senior scientist SKUAST, Kashmir said that the rains predisposes apple fruit to scab. He said that under rainy condition it becomes very difficult to manage the scab disease. Tariq said that continuous rains could also affect the size of fruit and may spur apple drop.
“Due to low landholding capacity, the advanced spraying technology could not be pressed into service to keep the scourge off the farms”, added the scientist. GR Mir, Director Horticulture told Greater Kashmir that continuous rains could precipitate many diseases including scab. He also added that hailstorm caused a significant damage to apple farms particularly in upper reaches of north and south Kashmir.”The damage in some parts of north and south Kashmir is over 70 and 40 percent respectively”, Mir said.