Mir Baseerat

Srinagar, April 25:  Owing to the better returns in horticulture, most of the growers are converting their agricultural land into orchards especially for apple production, thereby resulting in the increased import of pesticides and fungicides.

At present, 5500 metric tonnes of pesticides are imported and used in Kashmir.

As per the study, Horticultural land generates approximately a revenue of Rs 40,000 per kanal per annum and against only Rs 2000 for agricultural land.

There is a total of 3.34 lakh hectares of horticultural land in Jammu and Kashmir and the conversion rate is also higher.

However, use of proper pesticides and proper schedule by the farmers has been a major concern for the government.

In this regard, the Horticulture department has been issuing regular advisories to the farmers for timely advice on the spray of pesticides and fungicides.

Director Horticulture Aijaz Ahmad Bhat said there has been tremendous growth in the horticulture sector making it necessary that only prescribed and scheduled pesticides are used by the growers for better crop.

“The department of Horticulture has been aggressively creating awareness about the usage of pesticides and fertilizers in the horticultural land. Best practices will lead to the best crop which can be marketed at national and International level,” he said.

Aijaz said the growers must purchase the pesticides only from registered dealers having valid license and should also check Batch No., Registration No., Manufacture /Expiry Date on the labels.

“Sometimes the dealers sell expired pesticides/Insecticides which have a bad impact on the crop,” said Aijaz.

He said the growers should use only the recommended dose of pesticides to avoid problems.

The growers have also been demanding that regulation of the sale of pesticides should be handed over to the department of horticulture as 95 percent of the farming land is under horticulture cultivation in the Valley. 

Ajaz said approximately 4 kg fertilizers dye, ammonium phosphate, potash, urea etc is used for a single apple plant.

Despite growth in the horticulture practice, there is only one pesticide testing laboratory in Srinagar.

A grower Waseem Pampori said they have been following the schedule given by the SKUAST-K and the horticulture department.

“We were not following the schedule till last year and this year we are following it. We are not facing any kind of trouble with our crops,” said Waseem.

The growers get subsidies for the fertilizers but have to pay an average amount of Rs 4 lakh annually for pesticides.

Waseem said to avoid any kind of failure in the crops they only use registered, recommended and trusted pesticides, fertilizers.

Director Horticulture Aijaz Ahmad Bhat requested the growers to follow the advisories provided by them.

“They should avoid watching video related horticulture on social media as they have no authenticity, if they are facing any problems they should contact out department and we will help them in our best possible way,” said Aijaz