New Delhi: Returning from a field visit to the Kashmir Valley, a delegation of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) on Saturday said it witnessed extensive damage to the crops in the valley due to untimely and heavy snowfall, as well as from lack of transport and cold storage assistance due to the political turmoil in the newly formed union territory.
AIKSCC, a nationwide platform of 250 farmers' organisations, urged the government to assess the actual loss and provide relief to apple growers as well as growers of saffron, pear, grape, cherry and sheep breeders.
It also demanded that the government declare the current apple crisis in the valley as a natural calamity eligible for central assistance.
Convener of AIKSCC VM Singh said that if we consider Kashmir an integral part of India, then we must also stand with the farmers in their hour of need.
The farmers there are being pushed towards suicide, he added.
Read: J-K: Apple harvest suffers due to snowfall in Shopian and Pulwama
Social activist and a leader of AIKSCC Yogendra Yadav, who was also part of the delegation, criticised the government for indulging in self-praise even though it could not even buy 1% of the total produce.
The Centre decided to procure apples in the region in the wake of terrorists threatening some apple growers not to sell their produce in the market following abrogation of the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370.
"The government authorised Nafed to carry-out procurement but this operation failed miserably. Lack of experience and infrastructure meant that NAFED has procured 0.01 per cent of the estimated produce (1.36 lakh boxes out of more than 11 crore boxes)," the AIKSCC said in a statement.
Farmers have complained that the Nafed procurement had a disruptive effect since it has sold apple in the sale market at lower prices that brought down the wholesale apple prices in the procurement market, it noted.
