Srinagar, July 24 : After facing significant losses due to low demand for apples, fruit growers in Kashmir are now experiencing similar challenges with plums. The plum growers have reported a marked decrease in demand in outside markets this season.
According to growers who spoke with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), there was typically a good demand for plums at the beginning of the season. However, this year, demand has been low from the outset, which led to many growers opting to store a portion of their produce in cold storage units. They hope for a future increase in demand and better returns.
Javid Reshie, a fruit grower, said the demand for Kashmiri plums from markets across the country was minimal this year, which led to a drop in prices. “While expenses, such as labour rates, transportation charges, and the costs of packaging materials like cardboard and wooden boxes, continue to rise annually, the prices for the fruit have fallen,” he said.
Another plum grower, Sameer Ahmad, said the prices were down by around 50 percent compared to last year, which resulted in significant losses for the growers. “Hundreds of families rely on plum cultivation for their livelihood, and the low demand this year has adversely affected them,” he said.
Bashir Ahmad Basheer, chairman of the Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers and Dealers Union, said, “Although there was a good crop yield this year, the rates were low due to decreased demand. The low prices are due to a bumper crop and the simultaneous ripening of crops in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.”
Bashir expressed hope that the demand would increase once the produce stored in cold storage units is packed and sold.
Kashmir produces an average of around 8,000 tons of plums annually, with approximately 1,500 hectares of land under plum cultivation. The growers are optimistic that the market situation will improve, allowing them to secure better returns for their produce.
