SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today emphasised the need of nurturing horticulture industry and the growers associated with it to nurture state’s economy.
He said horticulture, handicrafts and tourism are the resourceful sectors in Jammu and Kashmir which can catapult financial status of the state and uplift the lot of the people associated with these sectors.
Addressing a function after laying foundation of a Controlled Atmosphere Storage (CAS) and inaugurating a similar one established in private sector at Lassipora Industrial Estate, the Chief Minister said CAS facility would help regulating the market and ensuring remunerative price for Kashmir horticulture produce.
He said the glut created in the terminal markets by the bulk supply of fruit from the Valley in the fruit season reduces the prices causing economic losses to the fruit growers.
He said setting up of infrastructure like Controlled Atmosphere Storages in the Valley and regulating the market by dispatching fruit as per the demand in the terminal markets would benefit growers in a larger extent.
“This will also check the sudden fall in prices of fruit in the markets due to the glut”, he said.
Mr Abdullah also laid stress on increasing per hectare production and productivity and said as per present analysis report per hectare production of apple in the Valley is 9.5 tones as compared to 70 tonnes per hectare in Austria.
He said the growers and horticulture department have to work together to work out a strategy of enhancing productivity. He said, if the per hectare production of fruit is raised up to 25 tones per hectare in the state, Jammu and Kashmir would be able to produce 35 lakh tonnes of apple annually.
He said this would not only generate economic activities and jobs but help to strengthen the economy.
