The agricultural landscape in Kashmir is undergoing change with the advent of high density fruit trees in apple production. This new horticultural approach, which is also backed by supports offered by the government, is anticipated to help increase yields, improve quality and develop new economic opportunities for Kashmir traditional growers.
There will still be a series of hurdles associated with this new horticultural approach, however, initiating a new effort is a step forward toward more sustainable and profitable agriculture. Low-density apple farming has traditionally prevailed in Kashmir in all of the old varieties such as Delicious and Ambri, resulted in more location, time, and care in the output.
High density apple orchards and plantations are created by growing fruit trees in closer proximity, along with supporting systems such as drip irrigation, trellising, and more controlled pruning practices.
The advantages established in high-density fruit production give direction to licensing on fruit trees to be yielding fruit in a span of 2-3 years versus 7-10 years for traditional growing methods in the world’s low density traditional labour cultivation, while also providing a much higher yield of fruit per hectare.
Many farmers are likely to realize that this is satisfactory and the government has offered significant subsidies to accommodate most of the costs of the saplings and additional infrastructure. Many farmers have expressed great expectations about transitioning from apple varieties such as Cherry and the like, to others.
Transition would also consider varieties that at least appear to be higher valued such as Gala, Fuji, and Red Velox, which are also higher yielding varieties in local or global markets.
High-density agriculture comes at a time when the Kashmir apple sector has enormous competitive pressure from imported fruit. This system permits Kashmiri producers to improve their productivity and become less reliant on declining orchards, thereby restoring their competitive value.
The advantages of this system also include efficient use of land and water resources for environmental sustainability, allowing it to be an alternative according to global agricultural best-practices.
Transitioning into this, however, is not simple, due to the high costs of involvement at the outset, farmers often large or small, ignorance of the technology and the degree of technical difficulty required. Moreover, the consistency of care for a high-density orchard, such as regulated irrigation, pest management, as well as qualified labour, will be another area that many farmers may need rigorous training and support.
To sustain this in the long-term the government will have to ensure that support flows to small and marginal farmers, who would not otherwise be able to afford these investments.
