Reduced Duties On Apples From US, Other Countries, A Major Setback For Kashmiri Farmers

For Mudasir Ahmed Wani, 40, an apple grower from South Kashmir’s Pulwama, who suffered a heavy loss to his fruit crop due to the closure of Jammu-Srinagar National Highway and on account incessant rains last year, announcements by the Central government to lower the import duties on apple from the countries   of United States, New Zealand and European Union have come as a big blow.

“With the reduction in the import duties, particularly from the United States, there will not be much price difference between the apples from that country and that of Kashmiri produce.  This will have a major impact on apple growers, most of whom  faced heavy losses due to the crop drop after incessant rains last year, and also after the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. This is a big blow to us,” says Mudasir. “We suffered a loss of over  ₹4 lakh   as the prices dropped by nearly 50% last year. The price of each carton of apples dropped to ₹300 from around ₹ 800 to 900,” he adds.

Kashmiri apple farmers, who have already been reeling from the losses, say that the reduction in the import duties has come as a   major setback for them. Traders say that they have already faced a price drop due to the reduction in import duties on New Zealand varieties of apples to India.

Ahead of the trade agreements between India, the European Union, and the United States, Kashmiri apple and walnut traders have sought an increase in the import duties to protect the local produce. In the past, heavy imports of Washington apples, Californian almond and walnuts have  impacted the prices of Kashmiri produce.

Bashir Ahmed  Basheer, chairman of Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers Cum Dealers Union, has urged the Central government to increase the import duties on apples to 100% to protect the local economy. He says that despite the losses suffered by the farmers in last year’s floods and the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway for several days, which damaged the stranded crop, neither the Central government nor the Union Territory administration has announced any package  for the affected farmers.  “The reductions in tariffs from the European Union, the United states and New Zealand will be a massive loss to the apple growers who are  already struggling due to the increase in fertilizer and labour costs. It will become very difficult for the local farmers to compete with those from the developed countries like the United States or the European Union,” says Bashir.

However, notwithstanding the concerns raised by the farmers, the Central government has held that the Minimum Import Prices and the cap on import quantity, and allowing only limited varieties of fruit, will protect the local farmers.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India has imposed a minimum import price (MIP) of Rs 80 per kg and an import duty of 25 per cent on apples from the US to protect local farmers. Authorities have further said that while the duty on European apples will be reduced to 20 per cent, the imports would be capped at 50,000 tonnes per year and with a minimum import price of Rs 80 per kg. Furthermore, the import duty concessions will be given to New Zealand apple for upto 45,000 MT at 25 per cent duty and MIP of USD 1.25 per kg.

Apple growers see these concessions as a major blow to the horticulture sector, which remains the mainstay of Kashmir’s economy with over 7 lakh families depending on this for survival. Farmers have already been struggling with low production due to the erratic weather.

Farooq Ahmad Bhat, a farmer from north Kashmir’s Kupwara, says that due to the dry spell, the produce on his orchard has declined from nearly 1000 cartons each year to around 300 cartons in a span of ten years.

“After the new tariffs, the losses will rise. We have already been struggling due to dry weather, which has been responsible for a heavy reduction in the apple crop. Also, due to the increased  labour costs on the harvesting of walnuts and almonds, it becomes difficult  for the farmers to make profits. The New Zealand tariffs have already impacted us, and now this new set of changes and reduced duties on imports from the US and the European Union will be a crushing blow to the already struggling apple and dry fruit industry in Kashmir,” he says.

Gulam Nabi, an apple grower from South Kashmir’s Pulwama, who suffered a loss of around ₹30 lakh  due to the heavy rainfall and the closure of Jammu- Srinagar National Highway last year  as fruit laden trucks remained  stranded on the road for several days, says that the reduced duties will at least result in  price drop of 20% for the local varieties. “It will surely impact us, and the effect on the prices will be higher in the coming months as we transport stocks from cold storage facilities for sale in the rest of the parts of country,” he says.

​Zia-ul- Islam, a dry fruit seller from north Kashmir’s Kupwara, says that the farmers have already been impacted by the heavy import of dry fruits from the US market.

“We have been heavily impacted by the large imports of California varieties of almond and walnut into India, as the price differences are not much in comparison with local produce. Each kg of walnut and almond from Kashmir costs between  ₹ 1000 and ₹ 1200, while the rates of the California varieties of almond and walnut are around ₹ 1600 ,” he says