Kashmiri walnuts are harvested in autumn. (Photo: Irfan Amin Malik)
There was a time when Kashmir was reckoned to be the world’s second-largest cultivator of walnuts. But no longer. In fact, the Indian market is itself being flooded with walnuts from California, China (the world’s largest producer), Chile, Netherlands and Turkey today.
Apart from Jammu & Kashmir, in India, walnuts are grown in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh. However, J&K accounts for over 95 percent of the total production in the country and over 85 percent of the area under walnut cultivation.
According to official figures, of the 108,000 hectares under walnut cultivation in India, 89,000 hectares are in J&K. In terms of production, of the 299,000 tonnes produced in the country, 275,000 tonnes were produced in the erstwhile J&K.
A series of setbacks
Kashmir’s walnut industry has, however, suffered in recent years. Growers directly associated with the organic crop lamented that both rates as well as the market have shrunk. They blamed the lack of high-quality walnut planting, unorganised orchards, and a long gestation period for the setback to the walnut industry of Kashmir.
Mushtaq Ahmad Ganaie, a walnut grower in the Frisal area of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, told Moneycontrol that on the one hand, walnut production is decreasing, while on the other, rates have come down. For example, he said that every year the branches of decades-old walnut trees go dry, leading to the crop depletion.
Ganaie, 45, who has been involved with walnut farming for the past 15 years, said the current rate for 40 kg locally is Rs 4,500 compared to Rs 11,000 in 2017-18.
The rates, according to growers, have decreased during the past five years, especially after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government abrogated Article 370, the region’s special status, on August 5, 2019, and imposed a lockdown.
The lockdown and uncertainty paved the way for the cross-continental journey of walnuts and apples from the US, Chile and other countries into India, despite sky-high tariffs. Imports have taken a heavy toll on the local produce.
The government, in order to tackle the threat to Kashmir’s walnut industry and boost the cultivation of walnuts, imposed an import duty of 132 percent on walnuts from the US and 110 percent on walnuts from Chile. However, the high import duty did not deter imports due to the high demand for the dry fruit across the country.
The decline in local production year after year also forced traders to import walnuts from other nations.
Ganaie said that growers, despite working hard during the pre-harvest and post-harvest period in their walnut orchards, ultimately do not find a good market for their crop. “Eight years earlier we used to sell our crops without much effort and the market was very good. But today, the market is so poor that we break the walnut shells followed by the husk to sell kernels directly. And still the rates have not improved.”
Output has nosedived
Waseem Mir, whose entire family is involved in walnut farming, said that this year, the output has plunged. “Production is decreasing every year and this year the total crop production is a mere 20 percent compared to previous years,” said Mir, who hails from south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
He added that since the market is already poor, the entire production this year may only fetch “peanuts”.
Ganaie, while estimating the crop loss in his 5-kanal walnut orchard, said its production has fallen to 15 quintals from 25 quintals a decade ago.
Kashmir has been witnessing either low or stagnant walnut production year after year, including in Kupwara, the largest walnut producing district in the valley.
Figures available with the department of horticulture – Kashmir, reveal that walnut production in Kashmir stood at 180,973 MT in 2019-2020 compared to 195,066 MT in 2018-2019. Production in 2017-2018 stood at 190,451 MT, while it stood at 174,053 MT in 2016-2017 and 174,941 MT in 2015-2016.
Besides low production and a shrinking market, the walnut industry of Kashmir is battling a lack of infrastructure — transport, power supply, packaging facilities — and the absence of dry fruit markets.
Bahadur Khan, President of the Dry Fruit Association of Kashmir, said the region’s walnut growers are challenged by a host of concerns, including a 5 percent levy of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Khan explained that there is very little innovation from the horticulture department to explore hybrid varieties of walnuts. “High-density walnut trees can not only increase crop production but also give tough competition to foreign walnut varieties.”
But Ganaie, who had already planted high-density walnut trees in his orchard, argues that the experiment may fail. “Two years earlier, we had planted high-density walnut trees in our orchard. The crop quantity as well as quality was poor compared to the crop harvested from traditional trees. The kernels of high-density trees are so dark that they won’t fetch good rates in the market.”
Processing units have gone silent
The repeated jolts Kashmir’s walnut industry suffered also forced processing units to wind up one by one. For example, 42-year-old Tanveer Ahmad Dar of Chanapora, Srinagar, closed his walnut processing unit at the Industrial Growth Centre in Pulwama.
“It all started in 2014, when Kashmir was ravaged by floods. The dry fruit distributors and dealers across India looked for an alternative and asked the government to import walnuts from California. Since then, Kashmiri walnuts have lost market value, and as a result, 9 out of 11 walnut processing units have turned sick.”
Kashmir horticulture director Ghulam Rasool Mir said the problems of the walnut industry would be mitigated through the development of high-tech walnut nurseries. “We are focusing on creating such nurseries along modern lines. But the growers do not cooperate. A grower having more than 5 kanals of land can get a subsidy from the government to make a walnut nursery,” said Mir.