Key Points

In a statement, Mehbooba Mufti said the neglect of the horticulture sector has caused 99 per cent of this year's C-grade apple crop to go waste because the NC government led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah did not implement the MIS to support the horticulture industry.

She claimed that her father late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was 'a visionary, who understood the foundation of J&K's economy and always recognised the fruit industry as the backbone of the region's economy'.

"Horticulture sustains more than seven lakh families, generates annual revenues of Rs 5,000 to 6,000 crore, and contributes nearly 8 to 9 per cent of J&K's GDP. Mufti Sahib treated this sector as a lifeline, not a seasonal concern."

"He waived toll tax on fruit transportation, set up mandis across districts for better market access, introduced MIS to purchase C-grade apples so growers were not forced into distress sales, and launched the High-Density Plantation Scheme to modernise horticulture and enhance productivity," the PDP President said.

Accusing the NC government of deliberate neglect, she said: "For decades, NC governments treated horticulture as an afterthought. By failing to implement MIS this year, they have allowed nearly the entire stock of low-grade fruit, almost 99 per cent, to rot or go waste."

"Growers already struggling with repeated highway closures, natural calamities and rising costs have been pushed to the brink."

She stressed that this inaction reflects not just inefficiency, but apathy towards the backbone of J&K's economy.

"Fruit growers are not asking for charity. They demand fairness, continuity of MIS, and guaranteed access to markets. NC's neglect has endangered an entire community and weakened the rural economy," she asserted.

She urged the NC government to immediately revive and expand MIS, ensure unhindered truck movement on the Srinagar-Jammu highway and treat horticulture as a permanent pillar of J&K's economic policy, not as an afterthought.

Horticulture and not tourism is the biggest industry of Kashmir.

The horticulture industry contributes Rs 10,000 crores to the union territory's economy annually.

Apple is the mainstay of Kashmir's horticulture industry while cherries, walnuts, almonds, peaches and pears are also produced in the Valley and sold in markets outside J&K.

Apple growers and traders suffered huge losses this year due to continued off and on blockade of Srinagar-Jammu national highway that caused loaded apples to rot in stranded trucks.

During the last three days, more than 6,000 trucks carrying apples out of the Valley have moved on the Srinagar-Jammu highway and the Mughal Road that connects Shopian district of the Valley with Poonch district of Jammu division.

- IANS