Located on the banks of river Jhelum near Srinagar Jammu National Highway, the village of Patalbagh is one such hamlet in Pampore, exclusively known for saffron cultivation. For centuries the farmers in this village have been growing saffron on their Karewa land making it one of the prominent saffron hubs in Pampore area.
However, defying the traditional practice of saffron cultivation, a youth of the village, Reyaz Ahmad Bhat, has treaded an entirely different path and started growing walnut trees, fetching a completely new attraction to the village.
Reyaz, a successful sheep breeder cum dairy farmer, has been cultivating around 8 Kanals of his land with grafted selections of walnut trees.
His walnut orchard in this non-traditional area has become an attraction with many farmers contemplating to follow the suit.
The dwarf selections laden with small sized green shelled walnuts present an enchanting look to viewers.
The interesting feature of his new farming model has been inter cropping.
“ The walnuts were intercropped with peas, the crop of which has already been harvested,” Reyaz said.
What prompted Reyaz to script a walnut story with local grafted selections in this village otherwise known for growing saffron, is comparatively less investment.
He explained that apple or saffron farming is labour intensive.
He said that expenses on pesticides and fertilizers are comparatively near to nil.
“ Walnut farming in Kashmir is naturally organic,” he said, adding that they require decayed manure once in a year.
He said that they don’t spray any pesticide in their walnut orchard.
He added that porcupine attacks were one major factor turning him to walnut farming.
Porcupine, a spiked rodent species, loves eating corms of saffron and barks of almond trees.
From the past couple of years they have been causing significant damage to saffron corms and barks of almond trees in the area, the innovative farmer narrated.
“ Porcupines don’t damage walnut trees because the tree bark is bitter in taste,” he said.
Many farmers in Kashmir did away with traditional walnut farming because they grow very tall and climbing them for thrashing walnuts with sticks is a serious challenge.
Each year many accidental deaths after falling from tall walnut trees are reported from different parts of Kashmir.
However, the new selections are easy to harvest because of their short size.
“ The dwarf trees can be reached from the ground and climbing them is not a necessity,” Reyaz said, adding that there are other advantages like long shell life of the stone fruit as compared to perishable fruits like apple, cherry, plum and pear.
The young farmer narrated that the new selections were procured from Shar e Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology Kashmir ( SKUST-K) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s ( ICAR’s) Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture ( CITH), Srinagar.
“The grafted selections were approved after carrying out a soil analysis test by experts from concerned institutions to find which ones are feasible for the soil type,” he said.
He revealed that the grafted selections started yielding fruits after a year of their plantation.
“This year the trees are bearing a good number of fruits,” he said, adding that he is expecting to reach a decent profit.
Reyaz is the first farmer in low-lying areas of Pampore Tehsil who has turned to walnut farming on a big scale.
He narrated that many farmers in his area seem curious to emulate his style of farming.
Experts said that traditional wild walnut trees in Kashmir grow tall and each tree is a unique variety.
They said that different traditional walnut trees yield walnuts of different quality, shape and size.
Dr Jahangir, Assistant Professor Fruit Sciences at Shar e Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology Kashmir’s ( SKUAST-K’s ) Krishi Vigyan Kendra ( KVK) Malangpora, said that these grafted selections have many advantages over wild traditional forms.
One advantage is that they take comparatively less number of years to bear fruits, The Assistant Professor said.
“ They remain dwarf, yield a uniform sized fruit of known traits chosen by experts after carrying out a survey,” he said, adding that more of these selections can be planted per kanal of land as compared to wild traditional forms.
The Assistant Professor narrated this model of walnut farming helps farmers in marketing of their produce too.
“Farmers face a challenge in marketing of traditional walnuts and almonds because each tree is a unique variety,” he said, adding that supplying bulk quantities of a particular variety in the market becomes very difficult.
He explained that with grafted selections this issue can be addressed as all plants yield fruits of same size, shape and quality and can be supplied in the market in bulk quantity.
Reyaz’s model of walnut farming assumes significance as it can help Kashmir Walnut Industry to regain itself in competition with walnuts from California, Chile and China.
After penetration into the local market these imported walnuts have been posing a serious challenge to Kashmiri walnuts during the past few years.
