The spring is the beginning of farming in Kashmir. Most of the people across the Kashmir valley are right now farming and people are seen huge numbers in their fields working tirelessly.
Be it horticulture, agriculture or any other farming all began with the arrival of summer. People are spraying pesticides, applying fertilizers either to their crops or apple trees, hoping to see good and quality crop ahead this year.
Since, over sixty percent population of Jammu and Kashmir is relying on the sector, the allied sectors including fertilizers, pesticides are also witnessing a mushroom growth in Kashmir. The farmers who are poorly educated or have little knowledge about the products suffer a blow following the entry of fake and substandard pesticides and fertilizers.
In many parts, the people are complaining that dealers have sold them chemicals and fertilizers of low quality. Some farmers complain that fertilizers applied to the apple trees and crops have failed to dilute and are intact even after weeks.
Similarly, many others complain that the sprays to their orchards had no impact or either have proven counter productive. The complaints from the farmers are very genuine and over the years hundreds of companies in the market have forayed compromising the basic standards and supplying substandard or fake pesticides.
This would not happen without the illegal consent of some officials since Jammu Kashmir have a full-fledged wing of enforcement directorate in horticulture department. It has over the years failed to stop this practice which has immensely damaged our orchards and the crop quality by the end of year is quite poor.
The government must wake up to this concern and set up the standard mechanism to stop illicit and substandard pesticides and fertilizers in the market not only to secure the industry of horticulture and agriculture in Jammu and Kashmir but also ensure it is thriving and people won’t feel upset and give up working in the sector.
