‘Kashmiri apple growers face huge losses due to cheap imports from Iran’

Srinagar: Kashmiri apple growers are feeling apprehensive about their business in the face of uncertainties in the economy and the arrival of the Iranian apples in the Indian market. President of Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers and Dealers Association (KVFGDA) Bashir Ahmad Bashir said the industry is going to incur immense losses, and tens of thousands of people, including farmers from Himachal Pradesh and Utturachal, are going to be impacted and future of the apple industry within Kashmir region remains at the stake.

Currently, as many as 40 percent of the total Kashmir population including seven lakh farmers are directly linked to the trade fetching the state nearly Rs 8000 cr annually.

Bashir Ahmad Bashir said that in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Kerala, the price of Kashmiri apples had declined from Rs 1,200 per box to Rs 600, which will inflict huge losses on the growers. “The production cost of one apple box is Rs 600; moreover, the transport charges cost Rs 300 per box,” the president added: “The profit margin on Kashmiri apples is less since we spent a lot on fertilizers, labor, packaging and cold-storage.”

Apple growers in the northern Sopore have also shown their disapproval about the long term consequences on the import of Iranian apple on the fruit industry.

According to the president of KVFGDA nearly 1.75 crore boxes are unsold in cold storage. There is a possibility of the apple getting rotten if it lies pending for long, he said. “Iranian apples are selling cheap, but they cannot match the quality of Kashmiri apples. As Iran is under sanctions; that is why Iranian apples are cheap to import, which gets imported to the Indian market via Dubai.”

According to the KVFGDA President, more than 150 trucks loaded with apples are waiting for Indians from Afghanistan. ”With the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, the import of Iranian apples into India via Afghanistan and Pakistan has become difficult,” he said.

On the one hand, researchers are predicting that orchards in the Kashmir valley are likely to become unsustainable in the next few years due to gradual changes in weather patterns and climate crisis affecting total production. The government imposed tax (GST) on the other hand has increased several folds from “12 per cent to 18 per cent”. As per the horticulture department, the losses incurred from harvests in 2018 and 2019 have increased from 5 billion to 22.5 billion, respectively.

In such a situation the imports of apples from Iran will further plunge the industry and millions of people associated with it into a deeper crisis. Henceforth, the Kashmiri apples will be pushed to be fetched at much cheaper rates.

Even the political parties, including the National Conference have voiced concern over the tax-free imported apples. The spokesperson of the party, Imran Nabi Dar admitted that “losses incurred due to the illegal import of Iranian apples into Indian markets has resulted in a dip in the demand for local apple produce as a result of which over 3 Cr apple boxes are lying unsold in Kashmir division,” he said.

“If PM Modi cries for Make in India, then why are we importing goods from outside when we have our own production. PM Modi should uphold his own slogan.” KVFGDA’s president lamented that “we met the Union agriculture minister, but he didn’t take any action to stop the supply. Then we wrote to the prime minister, L-G office, but to no avail.”

—–INDIA NEWS STREAM