Inside numerous poly tents at various nurseries in Qaimoh block, about 60 km South of Srinagar, bundles of rootstock plants and apple seedlings are stocked for sale.
Come mid-February, the apple cultivators from different parts of the valley make a beeline for the area to buy plant material for their orchards.
The block, with a population of 30,000 people, spans over dozens of villages is home to over 400 apple nurseries, supplying plant material to the entire Valley.
Around 80 to 90 per cent of people in the area rely on the apple nurseries for earning their livelihood.
Zahid Salam Bhat, the owner of Insaaf Nurseries, which spans over 20 kanlas of land, says that the area has been the hub of horticulture material for the many decades.
“The soil and weather here area is conducive to the growth of healthy rootstock”, Bhat told businessline.
Bhat supplies both the conventional and imported high-density plant material to the farmers.
His annual turnover is between ₹30 lakh to ₹40 lakh.
Revolutionising Farms
Over the last few years, famers in the valley took to high-density apple cultivation with both the government and private nursery owners importing the rootstock from the UK , Italy, and the US.
In 2017, the government implemented a fully State funded high density apple scheme through private enterprises. The scheme was modified in 2021 and offers a 50 per cent subsidy to farmers for establishing a high-density orchard.
Under a revised scheme, the government plans to bring 5,500 hectares of land in Jammu and Kashmir under high-density apple cultivation by 2026.
“The demand for conventional verities has significantly dipped over the last 3 to 4 years,” said Hamid Rashid, the owner of Momin Nurseries.
He said that people chose to cultivate the high-density verities imported from Italy and the US.
According to Rashid, he sold over 15,000 rootstock plants of M.9 verity, specifically of T337 variant during the current season. This dwarf rootstock was developed by UK in 1912 and is in good demand.
Mohammad Shahid, another nursery owner said that he supplies Geneva series or G series rootstock developed in the US to farmers.
After importing the rootstock, the private nursery operators propagate it in their nurseries before distributing it to farmers.
Nisar Ahamd, District Horticulture Officer Kulgam told businessline that the nurseries in the area generate a revenue of over ₹100 crore annually.
He said that around 150 nurseries were registered with the government .
“A farmer for raising a root stock bank in his nursery gets 80 per cent subsidy,” said Ahamd.
He said that there was a significant contribution of these nurseries in revolutionising the high-density apple farming.
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