After years of vulnerability to erratic weather and market shocks, Jammu and Kashmir’s Rs 15,000-crore horticulture sector may finally receive weather-based insurance cover.
The government has indicated that the tendering process for insuring horticulture crops is in its final stage, raising cautious optimism among growers who have repeatedly borne heavy losses without financial protection.
Minister for Agriculture Production Javid Ahmad Dar said that while crop insurance under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is being implemented across all districts of Jammu and Kashmir, horticulture crops remain outside its ambit.
“Crop insurance under PMFBY is implemented across all districts of J&K, but our horticulture crops are not covered. The tendering process for weather-based crop insurance for horticulture is in the final stage,” the minister said.
He said that the government was also working simultaneously on implementing a Marketing Intervention Scheme for Grade C apples.
“We have taken up the issue with the Chief Minister for budgetary allocation,” Dar said, underlining the government’s intent to cushion growers against both climatic and market volatility.
Officials said the prolonged delay in extending insurance to horticulture crops had been mainly due to the lack of participation by insurance companies, the absence of healthy competition, and high premium rates.
“That is why the scheme could not be implemented in J&K so far,” they said.
When bids were invited in November 2024 for insuring apple and saffron crops in Kashmir, only two insurance companies responded.
Iffco-Tokio emerged as the lowest bidder, but its premium quotes ranged from 15.15 percent to nearly 30 percent – rates the government deemed unjustifiable.
In May, the State Level Coordination Committee on Crop Insurance reviewed the bids and eventually scrapped the process, leaving farmers to face yet another season without any insurance cover.
Between 2018-19 and 2023-24, fresh and dry fruit production rose from 20.06 lakh metric tonnes to 26.43 lakh metric tonnes.
The area under fruit crops increased from 3,34,719 hectares to 3,41,697 hectares between 2020-21 and 2021-22.
High-density plantation coverage surged by 591 percent in a single year, expanding from 880.89 hectares to 6090.91 hectares.
Export earnings climbed from Rs 5010.10 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 6369.08 crore in 2021-22, a rise of over 27 percent.
From just 10,000 metric tonnes in 1950, Kashmir’s fruit production has grown to about 25 lakh metric tonnes by 2020.
The sector generates nearly 8.5 crore man-days of employment annually and contributes around 9.5 percent to the Gross Domestic Product, with plans underway to add another 5500 hectares under high-density orchards.
Yet for growers, these gains feel fragile.
“Even during earlier periods of political turmoil or disruptions, losses were never this severe,” orchardists said. “This year everything failed at once – weather, roads, markets and policy support.”
Source - https://www.greaterkashmir.com
