Horticulture in Jammu and Kashmir

The cultivation of fruits, vegetables and flowers is known as horticulture. The word ‘horticulture’ has been derived from the Latin word ‘Hourtus’ meaning garden and ‘Colere’ meaning cultivate. The concepts of garden cul­ture as a distinct form of field culture dated back to the medieval farming system that used extensive area of grains, forage, fodder and pastures.

Horticulture is traditionally divided into :

(i) Pomology, (food crops, nuts, vines, and

(ii) Floriculture, e.g., edible roots, edible stems, edible leaf, edible seeds and flowers.

The state of Jammu and Kashmir has great diversity in the geo-ecological conditions, which suit ideally to the cultivation of al­most all kinds of temperate and most of the varieties of tropical and sub-tropical fruits. Horticulture is an age old economic activity in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Kalhana, the great Kashmiri historian mentioned fruit culture in Kashmir in his famous book Rajtarangani during the reign of King Nara as early as 1000 B.C.It was, however, during the period of Lalitaditya (900 A.D.) that horticulture in the state received considerable patronage. Sub­sequently, during the periods Zainul-Abidin and the Mughals some varieties of fruits were brought from Kabul, Persia (Iran) and Central Asia.

Growth Pattern of Orchards :

The total area under orchards in 1955-56 was only 18,000 hectares which rose to 25,000 hectors in 1970-71. The state government made serious efforts to bring the culturable waste under orchards. Consequently, area un­der orchards increased to 51,000 hectares in 1980-81. The area further went up to 59,000 hectares in 1990-91. It is hoped that orchard area will increase to 70,000 by 2001 A.D.

The Valley of Kashmir being in higher latitudes and altitudes generally grows temperate fruits. It grows numerous varieties of apples, apricots, al­monds, peaches, cherries, plums, pears, walnuts, melons, grapes and Laukats. The farmers are increasingly concentrating on fruit cultivation and more area is being brought under orchards. It has been reported that several pas­ture and forest areas have been cleared and planted with fruit trees.

In a positive development the backbone of Jammu and Kashmir’s economy – horticulture – has witnessed 36 percent growth in terms of production in a last decade. As per economic survey report 2017, the production of fruits has increased from 16.36 lakh metric tonnes in 2007-08 to 22.35 lakh MTs in 2016-16, thus an increase of 5.99 lakh MTs. Area under fruits in J&K state has increased from 2.95 lakh hectares in 2007-08 to 3.38 lakh hectares in 2016-17. Apple is the most important fruit crop of J&K State, about 48% of the area is covered under apple as per the horticulture census 2016-17. 

J&K State is well known for its horticultural produce both in India and abroad. The state offers good scope for cultivation of horticultural crops, covering a variety of temperate fruits like apple, pear, peach, plum, apricot, almond, cherry and subtropical fruits like mango, guava, citrus litchi, phalsa and Ber etc, besides medicinal and aromatic plants, floriculture, mushroom, plantation crops and vegetables. Apart from this, well known spices like saffron and black zeera are also cultivated in some pockets of the state. As a result, there is a perceptible change in the concept of horticulture development in the state.

Most of the apple orchards lie at the altitudes of 1,800 to 2,700 m above the sea level. In general, the sandy soil does not suit to apple trees as it induces root-bores and pink disease to the orchard. Deep and heavy loams are more suitable for apple orchard as these soils can retain moisture for a longer period. Some of the important varieties of apples grown in the Valley of Kashmir are Ambri, Delicious, American Teral, Maharaji, Piazratbali, Ke- sari, and Royal Misri. The districts of Barmulla, Anantnag, Srinagar and Pulwama have over 85 per cent of the total orchards in the state.

 Area Under Fruit and Vegetables  :

Pears (Nakh) and peach also grow well in cool and humid climate of the Kashmir Valley. Peach, being highly perishable is not much preferred by the farmers. Pears and peach orchards are well scattered in the districts of Kash­mir Division. Apricot (Khubani) requires humid nights and cool weather during the early parts of its growing period and moderately high (about 25°C tempera­ture) during later and the hilly areas of Kashmir below 3,000 m are well suited for apricot orchards.

The subtropical fruits are grown in the plains and low altitudinal zones of the Jammu Division. Among the tropical and subtropical fruits, mango, orange, malta, Kinu, Mausm, Ber, plum, papaya, guava, Nashpati (peach) Litchi, lemon, and grapes are noteworthy. Nearly 500 varieties of mango, each with a peculiar taste and flavour, are found in the Jammu Division. Mango takes about four months (March to June) to mature. Mangoes from Jammu region are supplied to Delhi and the towns and cities of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. There were about 3 crore fruit trees in the state in 1995-96. In the recent years, several new projects have been launched to spread orchards in the various parts of the state.

Incentives have been given to the growers by the various departments of the state to develop orchards in the drought prone Kandi and hilly areas. Subsidy to the extent of 50 per cent of fruit plants and inputs to be used in them are being provided to the growers by the state. Consequently, more than 2400 hectares have been covered under the subsidy schemes.

For a steady expansion of horticulture, the grower must apply the required inputs and should remain vigilant against pests and disease. In fact, exact scheduling is imperative since most of the fruits and flower crops are highly perishable. Transportation to market must function smoothly to minimize post-harvest loses. As per the reported data, area under fruits like apple, walnut, litche, pear, cherry and apricot has increased substantially since 1980, while the area of almond, Lauqat and peach is shrinking.

On an average, about 40 lakh tonnes of fruits are exported annually. Delhi, Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras), Hyderabad, Bangalore, Bhopal and the towns cities of Punjab and Haryana are the main markets to which Kashmir export their fresh and dry fruits.

One of the main problems of orchards sustenance is the marketing. The packing and transportation costs are significantly high. Moreover, apple or­chard owners are facing a tough competition from the apple growers of Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand. The good varieties of apple like Deli­cious are highly vulnerable to pests. The farmers have to spray apple orchards four to six times. The high cost of insecticides and pesticides re­duces the margin of profit to the apple growers. There is an urgent need to develop disease resistant varieties, failure to which apple orchards have a less promising future in the Valley of Kashmir.