Govt intervention helps J&K apple growers

Buys c-grade apples from farmers for Rs 3/kg, sells to processors at 50p/kg.

Market intervention by the government may not always be bad. Ask the apple growers in Jammu and Kashmir.

Their income has swelled by Rs 15 crore since October 2003, when the state government started lifting low-grade apples from them. Next year, their gains could more than double.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has marked apples grown in the state into three categories: A, B and C. It procures the low-grade C-category apples from farmers at Rs 3 per kg. Only the A and B category apples are sold to other states.

As a result, the quality of apples exported from the state has improved, which in turn fetches better prices for farmers. State government officials told Business Standard that Kashmiri apples were selling at 50 per cent higher prices this year than last year.

By the time the season draws to a close by the end of this month, half a million families in the valley will have made an extra Rs 15 crore, according to official projections.

The Jammu and Kashmir government bought about 15,000 tonnes of C-category apples this season. It had initially planned to buy 30,000 tonnes, state government officials added.

"We had asked the Centre to contribute, but did not get any support from it. So we started on our own and bought 15,000 tonnes," an official said, adding: "We are confident of buying 30,000 tonnes next year."

The state government has been able to recover a part of its investment by selling its stock of C-category apples to fruit processing units at 50 paise per kg. This has helped curtail losses to the state exchequer to Rs 7 crore.

There are two fruit processing units in the state: One is run by the state-owned Horticultural Production and Marketing Corporation, and the other, Kohinoor, is a private sector unit specialising in the export of apple juice.