Global orders for walnut kernels drying up

Just when Kashmirs walnut kernel had begun doing brisk business in the international markets,recession hit and its rates tumbled,resulting in heavy losses to the growers,traders and exporters alike...

Just when Kashmirs walnut kernel had begun doing brisk business in the international markets,recession hit and its rates tumbled,resulting in heavy losses to the growers,traders and exporters alike.

In 2007,kernels worth Rs 100 crore were exported. In 2008,the revenues fell to around Rs 50 crore to Rs 70 crore. Half of the kernels produced in Kashmir around 87,000 tonnes are produced in 61,000 hectares of land are exported. With no takers now,the export quantum of the dry fruit variety has reduced substantially.

Rates of walnut kernel have fallen drastically,both in the national and international markets,owing to global recession, said president,Fruit Growers Association,Ghulam Rasool Bhat. The three-fold decrease in the rates is worrying. Both traders and growers have lost crores of rupees in the past months.

Walnut is one of the main cash crops of the farmers in Jamp;Ks hilly regions,especially in the bordering districts of Kashmir,Doda and Poonch. In fact,according to officials,Jamp;K has the potential to market kernels worth Rs 500 crore though the state is yet to market it to its potential.

Although the entire walnut crop is produced in rural areas,its processing and grading is done in urban townships of the Valley and Jammu.

With an eye on the international markets,traders had started exporting high quality of walnut kernels directly .

As kernels fetched handsome amounts internationally,many traders preferred to export kernels directly instead of selling them in the country markets, Rasool said.

Story continues below this ad

This year,the exporters are anxious as the international orders have dwindled. We were getting orders from different Gulf and European nations. The orders started declining in 2007. And so far this year,there are almost no orders, said Ghulam Nabi Khan,a walnut exporter in Srinagar.

Khan said that kernels were earlier being sold at Rs 300 to Rs 350 per kilo in different markets across the country. Now we hardly manage to sell them for Rs 100 to 110 per kilo, he said. There is every possibility the rates will surge next year, Khan hoped.

Given the promise that the walnut cultivation held out,the states Horticulture department,too,had initiated walnut expansion plantation programme in different parts of the Valley and also introduced many hybrid varieties.