By Rayees nabi
Jammu and Kashmir a paradise on earth. Kashmir that part of Indian union territory where a delicious fruits , vegetables ,grains are cultivated . Economy of Kashmir gets generated through two sectors in Kashmir one is tourism and second is horticulture. Horticulture sector is the back bone of Kashmir, about 60 percent of population is dependent upon horticulture sector. Horticulture serves as a high contributing industry to the states economy. Out of the total area of horticulture in the state, 90 percent is concentrated in the valley due to its suitable climate. Horticulture sector is the biggest source of income in the state’s economy. Local soil is deep and rich in organic matter and access to human resources for farm labour is amply abundant. The horticulture sector has a great advantage to the state due to its Monopoly on walnuts , almonds ,pears ,cherries ,hazelnuts ,straw berries and Kiwi fruits. Horticulture sector gets generated in a high speed in Kashmir while as agriculture sector gets declined day after day. The precious crops are cultivated in horticulture sector like MALUS DOMESTICA (Apple) ,peas almonds, cherry etc. Farmer invests a lot of his money for cultivation purpose. Manure and fertilizers are very common for cultivation purpose. A farmer fallows all the directions which were regulated by horticulture department. They prescribed some common fertilizers which is compulsory like urea,Calcium, Ammonium Nitrate,Ammonium Sulphate Single Super Phosphate,Murate of Potash,Dy Ammonium Phosphate, nitrogen phosphate, Rock Phosphate,Zinc Sulphate. The manures which are used in garden field are farmyard manure, green manure and compost manure are very common.
For world famous varieties of fruits, dry fruits, honey and saffron, Jammu & Kashmir State is considered home for all. Horticulture is one of the most dominant sector and backbone of Jammu and Kashmir’s economy with a yearly turnover of Rs.1200 Crores. It provides direct and indirect employment to about 23 lakh people and has potential for further growth. Keeping this in view the state government has declared horticulture a thrust area and is taking a number of steps to boost it. Kashmir is the country of fruits, and perhaps no country has greater ambiance for horticulture; as indigenous apple, pear, vine, mulberry, walnut, hazel, peach, apricot, raspberry, gooseberry, currant, and strawberry can come into possession without much trouble in most parts of the valley. Kashmir is not home now to that diverse and abounding fruit. The quality of fruit has diminished. In quantitative aspects the production might have gone up but the aroma, taste and size of fruit and the number of apples per plant has diminished. In other words the production might have escalated in the recent years but the productivity has abbreviated. The quantity of adjunct fruits has diminished. The prime reason for a fall in the number of processed fruits is the mismanagement of the sector. The horticulture sector is completely unorganized as a result of which the processing food industry which was once functional in the north of Kashmir is no more functional and not only that, no steps are taken for future as well. If the industry is taken care, it can be a great source of employment and revenue generation and hence will help to drive the economy.
Horticulture department frames a spry schedule every year, they prescribe many drugs every year for the purpose to cultivate a healthy crop. Due to unrevealed climatic condition various diseases gets formed on our Flora species. There are so many diseases which demolishes the apple production in Kashmir some diseases like Apple scab , powdered mildew, Rust ,black rot and fro eye leaf spot, crown rot etc. Bacteria and fungi cause significant plant disease and production losses in Kashmir. Climate change is predicted to exacerbate this problem and the use of antibiotics and antifungal agents is expected to rise concomitantly as older treatments become ineffective and are discontinued and as disease burden continues to climb. There is growing concern that antimicrobials are losing their effectiveness in all sectors, not only in horticulture, but also in veterinary and human medicine. Extensive use and misuse of antimicrobials drives the development and transmission of antimicrobial resistance but it is unclear the extent to which antimicrobial use is driving the development of antimicrobial resistance specifically in plant pathogens, soil organisms, spoilage organisms, and non-pathogenic contaminants and zoonotic agents present on foods of plant origin.
Antibiotics and antifungal are widely used by farmers for the purpose to control the disease but instead of controlling the disease a new disease gets born after every spray. There are so many bacteria or pathogens which destroy the yield , some harmful pathogens like Pectobacterium, Pantoea, Agrobacterium, Pseudomonas, Ralstonia, Burkholderia, Acidovorax, Xanthomonas, Clavibacter, Streptomyces, Xylella, Spiroplasma, etc. After a lot of hard work farmers fallow the guidelines of horticulture department and purchase those drugs which are prescribed by authorities ,it may be the antibiotics or antifungal or it may be insecticide. The cost of these drugs are varied with trade name and efficacy is all-around same . Efficacy of these drugs are very minute which actually demolish the natural immunity and growth of our crops . Nowadays a farmer is only reliable upon those facts which are circulated in everywhere through newspapers or through programmes. Farmers cannot afford to purchase a highly costed pesticides but they are helpless ,they can’t tolerate the guidelines ,they just believe if I fallow the guidelines, it gives me a benefit to produce a good quantity as well quality of crop . After harvesting I can sold my crop with good price . Then after my all problems gets solved ,they just think and wander in dreams that , I can solve my all problems ,I can solve my family problems ,I can deposit the pending loan amount , I can purchase the new clothes for my child, I can deposit the pending school dues of my child but they didn’t know these highly costed drugs are null effective , they didn’t have any impact upon these pathogens . Now a million dollar question arises here ,in this modern era we can’t fight with these harmful pests ,then how can we expect that we fight with covid19 .
The leaf disease became evident on the leaves of apple trees. Majority of the apple trees have come under the influence of this disease. The disease has affected almost 25-30% of apple trees and it is spreading very rapidly. Its a big concern of horticulture industry, early leaf fall, wilting of leaves, alternaria ,these diseases are very common . These diseases demolished the apple Industry completely . It’s ia responsibility of Horticulture department that they have to take a keen look about the current situation. Farmers are very worried, climatic condition are not good , substandard drugs are everywhere.
Horticulture sector is a highly contributing industry in the Jammu & Kashmir State. Due to higher return on horticulture production, people shift from food grain production to cash crop. Horticulture sector contribute 7 percent to state domestic product and 45 percent of agriculture returns in the agricultural sector are accounted by horticulture. Proper marketing facilities should be given to the fruit grower in the state. An export zones should be encourage to be set up in the state so that the export of fresh and dry fruits can be promoted. For the growth prospect of this sector, the agriculture sector should not produce only for food security mode but it should look for producing products like high value fruits, vegetables and some cash crops, so that it could shift its strategy from food security mode to value addition mode. Growing of supplementary crops should be encouraged by the state government. For sustaining employment in the horticulture sector, state government should provide proper marketing facilities to the cultivators. Government should focus more on research and development activities in the horticulture. There is an immense need to prepare a proper vision and mission on horticulture. In order to boost the horticulture crop production state governments should define role clearly and mobilize resource to invest in this sector. Agricultural universities should take lead role in providing technical knowledge to the horticulture crops growers in a systematic way, So that farmers are enable to increase the area under fruits and vegetables and achieve the demand of fruits and vegetables. Production of fruits and vegetables can also be increased by scientific production technology. Organic farming also improves the quality of fresh and dry fruits which have high export potential in international market. Quality control laboratories should be established to ensure the exporters the commodities to export that can get international standard in foreign market.
Authorities needs to take the serious steps about why these diseases are dominant.
The writer is M.Sc Zoology and writes on serious issues.He can be reached at rayeesnabi3@gmail.com
