Budgam, Oct 01: Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Front (J&K PDF) Hakeem Muhammad Yaseen, has called for the urgent reintroduction of the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) to offset recurring financial losses to fruit growers in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a statement, Hakeem said the fruit growers have been facing huge financial distress due to the ongoing drought-like situation and intermittent hailstorms in the region, causing significant damage to their fruit produce. The reintroduction of MIS would enable fruit growers to sell their C-grade fruits locally, he said.
The former minister said it was most disheartening that the J&K government had “unreasonably” discontinued the much-needed Market Intervention Scheme, whereas the scheme was vigorously pursued in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, where fruit growers are provided Rs 10 per kg of C-grade apple as minimum market support.
He urged J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to personally intervene in the matter and instruct the Chief Secretary and agriculture production department to start the MIS immediately. “It is the need of the hour to come to the rescue of fruit growers, who have been pushed to the wall due to colossal damages caused to their fruit due to back-to-back natural calamities, including intermittent hailstorms and prevailing drought in the Union Territory,” he said.
Hakeem claimed that if the MIS is not reintroduced immediately, about 10,000 tonnes of C-grade apples in the Kashmir Valley will go to waste, thereby inflicting heavy financial losses on the fruit growers.
He also said that the government should waive off the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loans and exempt the interest on other agriculture lending to protect the livelihood of about 25 lakh souls of Jammu and Kashmir associated with the fruit industry. He urged the Central government to reconsider its decision to reduce the extra 20 percent import duty on Washington Apples, which he said would be detrimental to J&K’s apple industry.
According to Yaseen, the reduction in import duty on foreign apples has cast a shadow of apprehension upon the livelihood of fruit growers and traders of J&K. He urged the government to tighten the noose around the traders indulging in the manufacturing and sale of substandard pesticides and fertilisers, which have been playing havoc with the production and quality of fruits.
Hakeem urged the LG to convene a high-level meeting with the “real” stakeholders and authorities at the helm of affairs on an emergency basis to address the issues of drought-hit fruit growers in the region.
