Shopian, Aug 26: Repeated hailstorms and increasingly erratic weather are exposing the vulnerabilities of Kashmir’s apple economy, prompting growers to look beyond traditional orchards and consider high-density plantations as a way to raise productivity and returns.
Over the past two months, intense hailstorms have hit apple-growing areas across south Kashmir, damaging fruit and stripping trees at a crucial stage of the season. For growers already facing rising cultivation costs, the repeated weather shocks have added another layer of uncertainty.
The losses have also renewed calls for a comprehensive crop insurance scheme and wider use of protective measures such as anti-hail nets.
But some growers and horticulturists say changing the way apples are cultivated could be part of the answer.
“They fetch better prices and, to some extent, can be protected from weather shocks like hailstorms,” said Manzoor Ahmad, an apple grower.
He said that wider use of hail nets could help reduce losses in orchards, particularly as hailstorms become more frequent.
High-density cultivation uses clonal rootstocks and allows substantially more trees to be planted in a hectare than conventional orchards. The trees can begin bearing fruit in about three years, compared with six to seven years for traditional plantations, allowing farmers to recover their investment sooner.
The system can also deliver substantially higher yields from the same area, making it increasingly attractive to growers facing pressure on land, labour and input costs.
Jammu and Kashmir is encouraging the transition through its Revised Modified High Density Plantation Scheme, which targets 5,500 hectares over five years and provides a 50% subsidy to farmers.
Under the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme, the government is also working to increase the availability of quality planting material and strengthen nurseries and rootstock facilities.
However, despite the push, the transition remains at an early stage.
Izhan Javed, a well-heeled aaple farmer and spokesperson of Jammu and Kashmir Fruit and Vegetable Processing and Integrated Cold Chain Association (JKPICCA) said that only around 1% of the region’s apple-growing land is currently under high-density cultivation.
“High-density now seems to be the future. This year, we are seeing Gala varieties fetching far better prices,” he said.
Javed added that acceptance of Kashmiri Gala is increasing day by day.
Growers said Gala apples are currently fetching around ₹100 a kg at the farmgate, although prices vary depending on quality and market conditions.
For farmers, the attraction of high-density orchards goes beyond higher yields. Earlier fruiting means an orchard can begin generating income sooner, while greater production per hectare could improve returns from increasingly fragmented holdings.
Yet high-density cultivation does not remove the biggest risk facing Kashmir’s apple growers: extreme weather.
While the structure of modern plantations may make protective measures easier to deploy, growers still need hail nets, timely weather warnings to absorb losses when severe weather strikes.
“The weather has become unpredictable. We cannot depend only on traditional orchards anymore,” said Tariq Ahmad, another apple grower from south Kashmir.
Ahmad said that apart from good prices, high density plantation could be easily protected from weather shocks.
