The high-density orchards are playing an important role in the horticultural industry for apple growing in Kashmir, which represents a very important movement towards the modernization of the traditionally famous apple industry of the region.
The new technique offers the potential for higher levels of production, better-quality production, and quicker returns, which is long overdue for an industry where the economy still relies on antiquated methods. There are limitations to preserve, but this change represents the resolve of Kashmiri farmers to respond to changing fields of agriculture.
The traditional method of apple farming in Kashmir has, for the most part, been sustainable but has increasingly suffered from the inevitability of disease, long gestation periods, and smaller hectares, and insufficient yields.
These orchards come into bearing just in two and three years compared to marketing by conventional trees which takes seven or more.
Moreover, the smaller size of the trees allows for mechanization of all maintenance issues including irrigation and pest-control practices resulting in good quality fruit, manageable Vigor, and a high pricing range.
Yields can potentially double or triple in the first few producing years, which is a considerable consideration in an age of rising input costs and uncertainties in the marketplace.
High-density orchards also lead to maximizing land usage, which fits with the smallholder, marginal farmers, who are the backbone of the Kashmir agrarian landscape. Environmentally, these systems typically require reduced inputs for water and pesticides and oriented towards sustainable farming systems as well.
But the changes are difficult to do. The high establishment costs, the lack of technical education, and the reliance on imported rootstocks, stop most smallholders from adopting high-density orchards.
The support has to come from government and horticultural organizations will need to be persistent. They should provide subsidies, support the training on other new technologies, conduct local research to develop native high-density stock, and, as the images illustrated, assist in a transition that saves the smallholder, By doing so, several smallholder stabilizing financial programs need to be established by the public sector, and improved access to market linkages so farmers can receive the true value of the improvements produce.
The two packaged approaches — sustainability and profitability — will be of benefit to farmers. Stakeholders should coordinate their potential, interests and incentives from policy, science, and private sector, and develop a consistent transition on scaling and inclusiveness.
With successful management, high-density apple farming reclaims the status of Kashmir — a horticultural economy aspect for all India, and verified by others.
