Kashmiri apples in summer: How cold stores are boosting J&K’s apple industry

Kashmiri apples. (Photo: Mathan Kumar via Unsplash)

The 2017 Economic Survey in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) mentioned that half of Kashmir’s population is directly or indirectly dependent on the apple industry and over 3.5 lakh hectares of land in the Valley is under apple cultivation. The National Horticulture Board has stated that J&K is the largest apple-producing region of India, catering to 70 per cent of the total apple demand in the country.

GR Mir, director, Horticulture Kashmir, says that Kashmir, on an average, produces over 20 lakh metric tonnes (MT) apples every year and out of which the A-grade production is around eight lakh MT. “During the post-harvest season, four lakh MT directly goes to fruit mandis. Since the region has only 25 cold-storage facilities with a total capacity of two lakh MT, therefore, the remaining two lakh MT does not find any place and due to which the growers do not find a place to keep their produce.”

To that end, the controlled-atmospheric (CA) storage of fruits in J&K has come to the rescue of the apple industry which has been struggling due to poor market mainly because of cheaper Iranian apples flooding the Indian market and transportation issues on Srinagar-Jammu highway.

The post-harvest losses translate into huge financial setbacks for the apple growers in Kashmir, where more than seven lakh families are directly dependent on the fruit industry.

The cold-storage units, however, have come handy for the apple growers in the region who are able to sell their produce during off-season and get good returns.

Malik Wajid, owner of one of these cold-storage units located in Industrial Growth Centre (IGC), Lassipora, Pulwama, says, a 10kg box of stored apple has been sold at a minimum of Rs 1,000, and at Rs 1,800 as highest price, depending on the quality and colour of the apple.

Wajid added that cold-store units have reduced the post-harvest losses by increasing the shelf life of fresh fruits, including apples.

Apples kept in cold-storage units in Kashmir help growers to fetch much better rates by selling their production according to their will and market demand.

Tariq Ahmad Khan, an apple grower from south Kashmir’s Pulwama tells Moneycontrol that cold stores have come as a shot in the arm for apple growers in Kashmir. “In the year 2017, I brought my A-grade apples to a cold store and I was glad to see the difference. For a 16kg apple box I used to get Rs 450-500 compared to Rs 1,000-1,100 through cold stores,” says Khan, who owns a 25 kanals of apple orchard where he claims to earn around Rs 30 lakh per year.

Thanks to cold stores apples are now sold anytime during the year in Kashmir. For instance, one would have hardly imagined to eat apples in the month of April when apple trees are in bloom and the harvest season is five months away.

According to Wajid, there are 25 cold stores across Jammu and Kashmir, with the Industrial Growth Centre (IGC), located in the Lassipora area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama, alone hosting as many as 16 CA stores.

However, according to growers and CA store owners, these cold-storage units are way below what is needed for the storage of apples in the Union Territory. “There is a need for more cold-storage units so that growers are not forced to sell their produce at low rates,” Wajid says.

The CA storage system ensures an optimum supply of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen besides humidity and temperature to preserve edible items for longer periods of time.

With frozen-storage facilities, most of the food products can be stored for considerably longer periods, sometimes for as long as a few years.

However, certain fresh products such as apples and tomatoes cannot be stored under frozen conditions. For apple storage, the temperature is maintained between 0 degrees Celsius and 3 degrees Celsius.

During peak season, the fruit mandis experience a huge rush of people trying to sell their produce. But now instead of bringing the apples straight to the mandis from the orchards, the growers keep their fruits in cold storage units and sell their produce when the prices are better.

In Kashmir, during the peak season of apples or other fruits, the demand in the market gets very low and growers usually don’t get the best prices for their hard work.

Also, the growers are often busy in the process of apple collection and cold-storage units can come in handy for them in such situations as the growers get extra time to pack and send their fruit easily to the market.

Wajid says, such is the demand of cold stores in Kashmir that all cold stores have been booked for the next year’s apple production. “Even the apple trees are currently in the blooming stage and the harvest is expected in mid-September, all the cold stores have been booked by the growers and there is no place left for even 100 crates.”

Muzamil Maqbool, whose company (name unavailable) builds cold stores and provides cold-chain solutions in 52 countries, including India, says that CA stores not only help apple growers to fetch much better rates by selling their production in line with their will and demand but it has also revolutionised the CA industry while providing jobs to hundreds of labourers. “Over the years, cold stores have become a thriving business in the Kashmir Valley. A number of new entrepreneurs are inclined to start new units because the department of industries and commerce and department of horticulture provides 50-60 percent subsidy for starting a cold-store unit.”

Wajid, however, says, despite a good subsidy on the establishment of cold stores, not many individuals are willing to set up these units mainly due to the high cost of establishment.

One unit of cold storage takes at least 12 months to build and costs around Rs 30 crore, of which the government provides 50-60 percent subsidy. A 20-chamber cold store requires around 20 kanals of land with a capacity of storing 5,000 MT apples.

In December last year, the union government stated that the development of cold-storage infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a 53.8 per cent growth after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.

Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, says, 21 cold storages with a capacity of 99,555 tonnes have been constructed in the region after the abrogation of Article 370.

However, the Horticulture Kashmir department has claimed that the CA storage capacity has increased 700 per cent in the Valley from 25,000 MT in 2015-16 to two lakh MT in 2021-22, which is expected to be further increase by 25,000 MT in the next year.