Facing losses, farmers want curbs on trucks lifted

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 16

Agriculturists have demanded lifting of restrictions on the plying of fruit and vegetable-laden vehicles on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway. The curbs have been implemented in view of the ongoing Amarnath yatra.

People engaged in agriculture and other allied sectors also demanded that the government should also implement crop insurance scheme as their crops had been damaged due to adverse weather conditions and highway restrictions.

“The state government should immediately lift the traffic restrictions on the national highway which are causing inconvenience to people and huge losses to the fruit industry,” said Ghulam Nabi Malik, general secretary, Kisan Tehreek.

He said J&K was in dire need of crop insurance schemes. “Farmers and growers are also subjected to losses due to substandard and spurious pesticides and no attention has been paid to address this menace by establishing testing laboratories,” he said.

Massive hailstorms in May and June had wreaked a havoc in orchards of Kashmir, which annually produces nearly 20 lakh metric tonne of fresh fruit and 22 lakh metric tonne of dry fruits.

Kashmir’s biggest economy — Rs 8,000-crore apple industry — is in tatters as the government’s ignorance and changing climatic conditions have affected the crop production.