Inclement weather damages 20% strawberry crop in Kashmir

Srinagar: Strawberry farmers have suffered huge losses due to the inclement weather in Kashmir.

May is the peak season for strawberry farmers of Kashmir, who harvest the fruit and sell it locally.

 Strawberry farmers harvested a bumper crop this season. However, incessant rains in the last month caused a loss to the tune of 20 percent.

 “This year we had a better crop compared to the last year. The rains played a spoilsport. Fruit is rotting in warehouses as it couldn’t reach mandi on time. Twenty percent of produce has been damaged,” Manzoor Ahmad Dar, a strawberry farmer from Gassu village on the peripheries of Srinagar said.

 According to the Meteorological Department, Jammu and Kashmir has recorded exceptionally high rainfall in May, making it one of the wettest months in the past decade.

 Summer capital Srinagar received a record-breaking 86mm rainfall.  Kokernag with 215 mm, recorded the highest rainfall in the last month.

 Dar said losses could mount if it rains continue for more days. “There is a prediction that more rains will lash the valley. We are worried that farmers might face further losses this season,” he said.

 The farmers said they approached to the administration to compensate the farmers who suffered damage to their crops.

 “We have appealed to the government to help the farmers. Strawberry is a seasonal fruit with a very short shelf life. The farmers should be helped financially so that they don’t give up cultivating this fruit,” said Fayaz Ahmad, a grower from Tangmarg.

 Strawberries, one of the first cash crops of the horticulture sector of Jammu and Kashmir, are currently harvested in Dara, and  Gusoo areas on the outskirts of Srinagar besides other neighboring districts. Given the huge profit margin, many farmers over the years have shifted from vegetable farming to strawberries in Kashmir.

 Gaasu village alone produces almost one thousand trays equal to 2000 kg daily.

 An official from the horticulture department acknowledged that the rains have an impact on the strawberry fruit.

 “Still, we have a good production this season and we hope our farmers earn a good profit from the crop,” he said.