Cold Storage Helps Kashmiri Apple Growers Earn Up to ₹400 More per Crate

Cold Storage Helps Kashmiri Apple Growers Earn Up to ₹400 More per Crate The fruit industry should be promoted in the upcoming budget as it is the main source of employment generation in Kashmir. There should be maximum focus on this, if the tax on the goods coming from outside is increased then the local growers will get good benefits whether they are from J&K or Himachal. The biggest complaint in stores is the colour issue because of the fruit that is harvested in the pre-mature stage. The prices of the good apples that are coming out are right. There is a problem with the one which has colour issue, hence, I would like to tell the growers for the next season that the fruit should not be harvested in the premature stage, said a well wisher. There are a lot of benefits for growers if apples are put in cold stores, said Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat, apple grower in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir. There is a visible difference of Rs 400. Here, it fetches Rs 1100. I also have oneand-a half lakh crates in the cold store. From what I have seen in the last four-five years, we get a lot of profit from the cold store as compared to keeping the goods at home. Therefore, I would like to request the apple growers to transport their produce to as safe a place as possible and that place is cold storage. The market is very good, at this time the market is increasing day by day, our initial rate was Rs 800 and today it is going above Rs 1300 and Rs 1100. We can open a cold storage where we want, said the apple grower from Pulwama.