The development of cold storage infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a 53.8 per cent growth after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2020.
Replying to a question in Rajya Sabha on Friday, Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, said 21 cold storages with a capacity of 99,555 tonnes have been constructed in Jammu and Kashmir post the abrogation of Article 370.
Stating that the Government is putting in all efforts to create more cold storage infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir, he said currently 2.83 lakh tonnes of cold storage capacity has been created under various government schemes in Jammu and Kashmir.
USDA estimate
In its recent report ‘Fresh Deciduous Fruit Annual’, USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) FAS (Foreign Agricultural Service) had forecast India’s apple production at 2.35 million tonnes (mt) for the marketing year 2022-23. Of this, Jammu and Kashmir is expected to contribute approximately 70 per cent to domestic apple production, and Himachal Pradesh around 20 per cent.
The report said 2022 monsoon provided sufficient rainfall during the flowering and fruit setting period, resulting in a favourable harvest with strong market arrivals.
In such a situation, cold storage plays an important role in post-harvest movements of apple in Jammu and Kashmir.
On the drop in the price of apples in Kashmir, Tomar said that this year, there is a bumper harvest of the apple crop year and the marketing of fruit was advanced by some days due to warm weather. As a result, unregulated and more supply in the mandis caused a drop in the prices of apples.
Stating that the National Highway (NH) is under construction, he said the traffic gets halted on a few occasions. This also has some impact on prices. He said NH gets damaged or broken due to natural calamities. Hence it is repaired from time to time due to which the traffic gets halted.