Horticulture Department to provide 4.5 lakh fruit plants with 90% subsidy

The Department of Horticulture Kashmir will provide around 4,50,000 of various kinds of fruit plants to Kashmir growers with 90 per cent subsidy under rural, urban backyard Scheme for the year 2021. 

Manzoor Ahmad Bhat, Deputy Director Central Horticulture Kashmir said, that department will provide 4,50,000 fruit plants to the households with 90 per cent subsidy so as to make fruits available to every household in rural-urban areas. 

“The officers are assigned the work on the distribution of these fruits plants after the assessment of land suitable for each type of plants,” Bhat said. 

He also said that Chief Horticulture Officers (CHO), Horticulture Development Officers (HDO), Horticulture Technicians Grade 1 (HTG1), HTG2, HTG3, and HTG4 are getting to be involved in the distribution.   

“Our department is conducting awareness programs to make more people aware of the scheme,” he added. 

The people willing to avail this facility shall need to produce an identity card for easy verification. “Various types of plants provided by the department include apple plant, apricot plant, pear plant, quince plant, cherry plant etc.,” Bhat said. 

Bhat has also clarified the scheme is supposed with a purpose to provide nutritional value to most of the households in rural-urban areas in the valley possessing some extra land. 

Horticulture is the backbone of Jammu and Kashmir’s economy and it contributes about 8 per cent to the GDP of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).  

Official figures reveal that 700,000 families are directly or indirectly involved and dependent in the horticulture industry. 

However, due to back to back lockdowns and lack of transportation, the industry has incurred huge losses during the past several years. 

The Horticulture is one among the important sectors of the State which undertakes the development of the horticulture sector. The sector contributes immensely to strengthen the economic condition of the J&K, poverty alleviation, and employment generation. It is a core sector of Jammu and Kashmir agriculture. The variety of horticultural products of the State has earned worldwide fame because of its good quality and taste. The fruit crops grown within the state are apple, almonds, walnuts, pears, cherries and apricots in temperate areas and mango, citrus, litchi, papaya, guava etc. in subtropical areas. It is famous for Saffron cultivation which makes it unique in the world.