by Syed Shadab Ali Gillani
SRINAGAR: In a recent development, the Indian government removed the duty on the import of Washington apples, the development comes in connection with the deal in which the United States of America (USA) allowed the market access of steel and aluminium products from India, again. The import duty on the Washington apples was reduced from 70% to 50%.
The move, however, was not welcomed in some parts of the country. Growers especially from the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the state of Himachal Pradesh have shown their displeasure regarding the development. They stated that the availability of Washington apples will impact the sales of local produce.
Bashir Ahmad Basheer president of the Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers and Dealers Association stated that this year the growers were expecting good sales and good produce after some years of low sales, but this step taken by the government is going to affect the local growers of Kashmir.
Bashir also stated that since the duty was reduced from 70% to 50% it will make it less costly in comparison to the locally produced apple. “The 70% import duty made the Washington apples a bit costly but now the rate will reduce,” the president added, “The government had earlier promised us that the import duty will be increased, which would indeed benefit the local growers, however, this step is going to affect our horticulture industry badly.”
He on behalf of fruit growers of Kashmir had also appealed to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha to take up the matter with the central government, “the move will not impact Kashmiri growers only but the growers from Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh will also suffer the wrath of this move. So, the government should relook into this issue,” Bashir stated, “We request the government to increase the duty back to 70% so that the local growers of India don’t suffer the brunt of this decision. The fruit growers are already facing a lot of hardships, and this step is adding to their sufferings.”
He also mentioned that we suffered heavy losses for the past several years due to many reasons and last year too, the rates of the produce were low and the industry suffered from huge losses, “We expected this year to be good, but unfortunately, untimely strong hailstorms, gusty winds, and heavy rains in the month of June have severely hit the horticulture industry of J&K and caused enough damage in the fruit orchards, and now this step has been taken,” he mentioned.
Bashir further stated, America has better technology than that of Kashmir, “When the produce from there will be sold in the market here in Kashmir and other parts of India, who will buy the local produce here? The low rates of the apples imported from Washington will result in even lower prices for the local produce which ultimately will impact our growers.”
“We also had requested the government of Kashmir time and again to implement crop insurance here so that the losses rendered by the climatic issues and national disasters can be compensated but no concrete measures were taken even after promising us,” he stated.
He added that the growers are hopeful that the government will look into this matter.
Around 35 Lakh people are directly or indirectly associated with this industry which accounts for around 8% of the region’s Gross domestic product (GDP) and is considered the backbone of the local economy.
Kashmir on average produces over 20 lakh metric tonnes of apple every year, a figure that in some years touches 25 lakh metric tonnes. The 2017 economic survey in J&K said that half of Kashmir’s population is directly or indirectly dependent on the apple industry and over 3.5 lakh hectares are under apple cultivation.
