Kashmir’s horticulture department plans to plant 5,000 kiwifruit vines in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir this coming season to make the fruit the valley’s next cash crop.
Horticulture in the Kashmir valley has been expanding both in production volumes and total cultivated land, seeing annual growth of about 10 per cent, according to Dr M S Qasba, the director of Horticulture Kashmir.
He says the introduction of kiwifruit is part of a strategy for new imported varieties to complement local fruits, according to Rising Kashmir.
“Now, after four years we may have another fruit – kiwifruit – available in the market. We will plant 5,000 plants this season, which will bear fruit after four years,” Dr Qasba said.
“We are blessed with temperate climate and fertile soil, so we do not face any challenge while introducing new imported varieties on our soil. Kiwifruit is a temperate fruit, and Kashmir’s climate and soil is apt for its growth.”
Plant material for the kiwifruit venture was imported from New Zealand, developed in a high-tech greenhouse run by the horticulture department, and will be propagated as saplings to both government and private growers.
“Now, we will introduce it everywhere in the valley where irrigation facilities are smooth. We hope that it will become one more cash crop of Kashmir in future,” said Dr Qasba.
