Jammu and Kashmir produced strawberry in bumper this year. The crop saw about a 20% increase but it did not turn out to be a cause for cheer for the farmers. 

High produce of strawberries has a very little value with no market available due to COVID-19 lockdown in the region. The farmers said the government hasn’t even thought about them, let alone trying to rescue their crops. Manzoor Ahmad, a farmer in Srinagar’s Batapora area, is among the leading strawberry growers in the valley. He says they have incurred more than 50-60 percent losses. These farmers are completely on their own and have time. They all have again approached the government for cold storage for strawberries as the fruit has a small shelf life. Manzoor Ahmad said ‘’Government has zero role in this, we sell it ourselves in mandis. We request the government to at least make cold storage or make a policy as they have for saffron or orchards or cherries. People should get interested in farming but they are losing it due to no schemes. Last year, we had around 100 hectares of land utilised for strawberry farming but this year it was only 70-80 only.”

The farmers are hoping that the state government would come to their rescue by helping them in the storage or selling them in different markets.

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