J&K Floods Wipe Out Paddy Crops, Apple Orchards, Leaving Growers Devastated

The water from the Jhelum River damaged much of his paddy crop near their house in the Larkipora area of Awantipora in Kashmir. When Abdul Rashid Shah, 63, went on to take stock of other damages after the heavy spell of rainfall last month, he found his apple orchard strewn with large quantities of fruit that had fallen off the trees as the field remained submerged in water. 

Continuous spell for rainfall for several days left parts of Kashmir submerged on August 26, resulting in extensive damage to crops like Rashid’s, while the closure of the Jammu-Srinagar national highway for 17 days in the last month has also destroyed the apple crop worth crores, which was being transported to fruit markets  in different parts of the country. The situation in Kashmir has worsened due to a shortage of cold storage facilities for stocking fruits, which prevents their transportation outside Jammu and Kashmir during inclement weather. Agriculture remains a mainstay of J&K’s economy, with nearly 70 per cent of the population dependent on the sector, while the horticulture sector alone contributes about six to seven per cent to the GSDP figures of Rs 2.65 lakh crores, employing 35 lakh people in the Union Territory.  

Fields Submerged; Fruit Trees Uprooted

A heavy flow of water from the streams and River Jhelum, which traverse through most of Kashmir, into the fields not only uprooted trees but also submerged fields, causing extensive losses to the farmers. As water spilled over from the Jhelum, it damaged and destroyed Abdul Rashid's fruit and paddy crops, as well as other produce, on over 50 Kanals of land in his village. “Water flowed in from the Jhelum River to our field and destroyed the paddy crop on 10 Kanals of land.  There was a heavy fruit drop on my orchard of four Kanals as it got submerged in water. Keeping in mind the damages caused by the 2014 floods, I had sown the paddy crop ten days before the normal season in June to ensure early harvesting, but that didn’t help. The crop was still damaged. Worst, I lost much of the apple crop as the orchard got submerged several feet under water,” said Rashid. “In our area, the apple crop on over 50 Kanals of land has been damaged,” he added.

As a result of the rise in water level, both agricultural and horticultural crops have been damaged, particularly in the South Kashmir districts of Pulwama, Anantnag, Kulgam, and Shopian.

Director of Horticulture, Kashmir, Vikas Anand, said the full extent of the losses was being assessed in the Kashmir region, even as damage was reported on over 108 hectares of land. “There has been damage to the fruit crop in several parts of Kashmir, including Anantnag, Kulgam, and Lassipora. The damage to the crop is being worked out under the SDRF norms,” he said.

Director Agriculture Kashmir, Sartaj Ahmad Shah, said that the initial compensation to be disbursed to farmers under the SDRF norms was over Rs 15 crore. He, however, said that the actual loss could be as high as ten times the compensation amount, adding that the paddy sown on over 8,000 hectares of land was damaged, while the other crop varieties on over 1,500 hectares were also destroyed in Kashmir.

Shortage of Cold Storage Facilities

The closure of the Jammu-Srinagar national highway for 17 days due to landslides on the route has resulted in a loss of over Rs 200 crore to apple growers, as vehicles remained stuck on the road. The road blockade has also pushed up the costs of transporting produce along the relatively longer route through the Mughal Road, which connects with Jammu through the districts of Rajouri and Poonch. Growers said that they have few avenues to deal with the highway closure, as the Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory faces a shortage of cold storage facilities where farmers could have stocked their produce in the event of inclement weather.  This time around, farmers, however, also couldn’t keep their high-density apple crop in the cold storage facilities as these units will be opened after September 25, when other traditional varieties of fruit are ready for harvesting.

Ghulam Nabi Mir, 44, a resident of the Muran area of Pulwama, said the closure of the highway has increased the transportation cost of his harvest, which farmers would normally take to different fruit markets across the country. “Due to heavy rains, I suffered a loss of over Rs 3 lakh after heavy fruit drop in my orchard, which is spread over 10 Kanals of land. The closure of the highway has also inflated transportation costs. The cost of one carton of apples has increased from Rs 50 to 180,” he said.

Ejaz Qureshi, president of Jammu & Kashmir Cold Storage and Controlled Atmosphere (C A) Store Association (JKPICCA), said that the Cold storage facilities are scheduled to open by September 25 to prevent premature harvesting.  “If we open the cold storage facilities early, people would go for early harvesting of fruit, which would affect both the quality and price of the crop. Much of the crop, which has been damaged, is the high-density apple, and the traditional varieties of fruit are yet to be harvested. People don’t prefer to stock the high-density crop in the cold storage facilities,” he said. He said that with a storage cost of around Rs two per day for one box of around 18 kg of fruit, the apple sale fetches better prices for farmers in the market after being stocked in cold storage facilities to be sold a few months after the harvesting season.

Despite the fact that cold storage facilities have helped farmers attract better prices for their produce, authorities have admitted to a shortage of such infrastructure in the UT. According to the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Jammu and Kashmir has a requirement of over 9 lakh metric tons (MTs) of cold storage facilities. However, as per the UT Economic Survey 2024-25, in the year 2023-24, 12 stores with a capacity of 60,000 MTs of cold storage were completed, which took the total capacity to Jammu and Kashmir to 2.7 lakh MTs, far lower than the required units.

Ejaz Qureshi said in a given season, the Kashmir valley faces a minimum requirement of 3 to 3.5 lakh MT storage, and the existing facilities were woefully short. “It is a controlled facility that helps the fruits to remain fresh as long as 8 months and fetches the produce a good price. Growers, however, always want 75 percent of their produce to be sold quickly, as they already have debts on account of the costs incurred for using pesticides and fertilizers in the field, which they want to clear as soon as possible. So, they prefer quick sale for the bulk of the produce, and normally, the farmers need the cold storage facilities for nearly 25 per cent of their produce only,” he said. Keeping in view the requirement for cold storage facilities, the Jammu and Kashmir Economic Survey has stated that the UT aims to add an additional 50,000 metric tons of cold storage capacity within a five-year period.

Erratic Weather and Losses

The damages due to floods have come as a major setback for farmers, who have been facing losses due to erratic weather patterns, such as excessive rainfall and dry spells. Apart from floodwater submerging the crop in Jammu areas, heavy rainfall has also been responsible for crop damage in the Union Territory. 

Professor and Head of the Department of Division of Agronomy of SKUAST-Jammu, A P Singh, said that apart from the damages caused to the paddy crop as fields  got submerged under water, an excessive spell of rainfall has also resulted in major losses to farmers in the Jammu region.“ The paddy crop in the plains suffered extensive damage due to the floods. The crop was damaged in the areas of Bishnah, Marh, and R S Pura, as well as elsewhere in the Jammu region, due to heavy rainfall. The rainfall was significantly above normal levels, which had an adverse impact on the crops. There are some areas that received 300-400 mm rainfall in a span of two to three days, which is the normal rainfall level for a month-long period,” he said.