Mubashir Aalam Wani
Srinagar, Dec 1: Following better market rates for Kashmiri apples this year, cold storages in Kashmir have reached full capacity.
Although the production of quality apples was less in Kashmir due to the weather vagaries, Kashmiri apples this year witnessed a huge market demand across India.
Expecting the market to be even better ahead, farmers have stored their apples in cold storage facilities in large quantities.
President Parimpora Fruit Mandi Bashir Ahmad Bashir told KNO that all the cold storages are running at full capacity in Kashmir right now.
“Grade ‘A’ apples this year got better rates. So, now the majority of the farmers have stored their apples in cold storages, expecting even better rates in the months of April to June next year,” he said.
Bashir said the quantity of shipments of apples from Kashmir will now stop dropping in the coming months. “Cold storages have proved beneficial for farmers who sell their apples in off-season at good rates,” he said.
Bashir said the storage of apple in cold chains would also prevent the losses of farmers due to the influx of Iranian apples. “This could be another reason that farmers store their apples in cold storage in huge quantities. They know that it will be the only Kashmiri apple hitting the market in the off-season next year,” he added.
A cold storage owner said that the majority of the cold storages in Kashmir reached full capacity in the beginning of November month.
“Usually cold storage reaches full capacity in the month of December. This year the majority of the farmers preferred to store their crop in cold storages,” he said.
Ghulam Mohammad Dar, a grower from Baramulla said that cold storages have emerged as a ray of hope for farmers for better returns to their crop.
“We have witnessed that Kashmiri apples had a good demand during the last few years in the month of April to July. So cold storage have emerged as a good option for farmers to get better rates to apple during off-season,” he said.
