23 November,2020 .
Walnut Sector in Kashmir Deserves Promotion
Walnut sector used to be bulwark of rural economy of Kashmir .A village in Kashmir used to be incomplete without presence of Walnut tree.But over the decades due to rapid conversion of land into apple orchards,Jungle of construction the walnut trees have been worst hit as a result walnut sector has suffered .Now some good developments have taken in recent times . Farmers residing in remote hilly areas of Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district, who are solely dependent on agriculture to earn their livelihood are now changing the trend of farming by adapting walnut farming on a large scale.Pertinent to mention here that Farmers here are now engaged in walnut farming along with other crops like maize and rice. The farmers are focused on horticulture farming of cash crops.Now the walnut crops are ready for sale in areas like Kotranka, Budhal.
In another optimistic development, Director Horticulture recently visited the fruit plant nursery Tral where the Director was appraised that 20000 walnut seedlings have been produced during this year, which shall be grafted during coming season for production of quality planting material.
The demand for walnut plants is quite high in the Valley and no stone should remain unturned in producing the quality walnut plants. Recently,Director Horticulture was appraised that at this nursery around 25000 clonal root stock is being multiplied which shall augment the availability of plant material. Director Horticulture directed to establish small model high density orchard which shall serve as a demonstration plot.
The hope is that all important walnut sector is given due attention so that it becomes a major source of our income and employment.
