Srinagar: Kashmir's Cherry rates have been decreased by 60% as early summer ripened the fruit a month early lowering the supply and demand in the markets.
Growers said that due to early summer, cherries have been ripened and harvested at a time when the fruit has been produced in bulk from Himachal Pradesh.
Mohammad Yousuf, a grower said that the crop is at an all-time low and farmers aren't even fetching the amount they spent on spraying and fertilizers.
“Despite Covid-19 last year, we were selling a cherry box containing 2 kg cherry for Rs 300 but this year the same box with better quality cherry is fetching just 90 to 100 rupees,” he said.
Bashir Ahmad Basheer, chairman of Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers said that this year due to hot weather in spring, cherry ripened a month early and production was ready at a time when Himachal Pradesh produces the fruits in bulk.
“Everything depends on supply and demand but cherry from both Himachal and Kashmir reached the market at the same time, so there was very less demand and rates are around 60 to 70 percent lower than last year,” he said.
Moreover, hailstorms, rains, and windstorms during evening times every day and cherries coming from Italy and other countries are lowering the demand thereby affecting farmers, he said.
Annually, Kashmir produces more than 11000-15000 metric tons of Cherries starting from the Mid May to Ending June.
(KNO)