SRINAGAR: Minister for Agriculture Production Department, Javid Ahmad Dar, informed the Legislative Assembly on Monday that preliminary estimates indicate a loss of about Rs 209 crore in agriculture and allied sectors due to the recent closure of the National Highway following landslides and flash floods.
Responding to a question raised by Legislator Waheed-Ur-Rehman Para, Dar said the assessment was carried out by the department’s field officers and that the losses have been reported to the Government of India.
The Minister said that under the Re-structured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS), crops including apple, saffron, mango, and litchi have been notified for insurance cover. He added that the tendering process for selecting an insurance company from those empanelled by the Centre was underway.
On Controlled Atmosphere (CA) storage, Dar informed the House that Jammu and Kashmir currently has a capacity of 2.92 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) against an estimated requirement of 6 LMT, which is about 30 percent of the annual fruit production. He said the department plans to increase the CA storage capacity over the next five years through the Centrally Sponsored Scheme Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), while the UT Government is also providing a top-up subsidy from the UT Capex.
The Minister said awareness programmes and seminars are being held in all districts to inform youth about incentives for setting up CA infrastructure and other post-harvest facilities. He said as most CA stores are concentrated in Lassipora, Pulwama, and Aglar, Shopian, efforts are on with the Industries and Commerce Department to establish sector-specific industrial estates for horticulture and post-harvest management in other districts.
Regarding the upgradation of fruit mandis in Pulwama and Rajpora, Dar said two fruit and vegetable markets at Prichoo Pulwama and Pachhar Rajpora Pulwama have been made functional, and funds amounting to Rs 1.28 crore and Rs 3.68 crore, respectively, have been earmarked under NABARD for 2025-26 for further improvement.
On the revival of the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) for apple procurement through the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED), Dar said the scheme was first launched in 2019 to help farmers market their produce during the Covid-19 pandemic. He said the government is exploring the feasibility of expanding CA storage facilities to other districts to meet increasing demand from horticulturists.
Legislators MY Tarigami, Ghulam Mohidin Mir, and Javid Riyaz Bedar also raised supplementary questions on the issue.
