Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): The unusually wet weather in the month of May, the peak harvest season for strawberry fruit in Kashmir has led to considerable damage to the cash crop, farmers complained. Strawberry grower, Manzoor Ahmed Dar hailing from Gassu village on the peripheries of Srinagar, told ETV Bharat, "There is about 20 percent loss due to rain”.
Dar said that that the farmers were expecting a bumper crop this year, however the untimely rain dashed all the hopes of the farmers by damaging the crop just ahead of the harvest. “Compared to last year, the crop was quite good. Due to rain, the fruit got spoiled and also it couldn't be transported to mandi on time.
Otherwise, around 2000 kg of strawberries is transported to the mandis from here every day," Dar said. He added, "We have to work in the strawberry field all year round. We have to mix fertilizer in the soil and sprinkle light water, but the rain has dashed our hopes." Dar's mother Hajra said that due to heavy rain, the crop was spoiled.
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“The profit is not as much as was expected. We had also approached the administration in this regard, but they did not give pay any heed," she said. Although strawberries are cultivated in other parts of South Kashmir and the Tangmarg area of North Kashmir as well, Gassu village has earned the niche of being the 'strawberry village of Kashmir' with majority of farmers involved in the cultivation of the cash crop.
The strawberries from the village are considered the most delicious and up to the standard. In Kashmir, strawberries are picked from the fields from the beginning of April to the end of May. While the farmers were happy with the good yield, however, they got disappointed due to rain and hailstorm on the red ripe crop.
While the Indian state of Maharashtra is known for its strawberry production, the fruit is also widely cultivated in Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, and Rajasthan. Strawberry is being promoted as a cash crop in India because according to the official estimate, the farmer can get an average profit of three to four lakh per year from this fruit.
This was the reason that strawberries were introduced in Gassu villages located in the suburbs of Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir, about 15 years ago and today more than a thousand farmers are involved in the cultivation of this fruit.
