Model Apple Cluster Orchard | A New Era of Apple Cultivation | SKUAST-K

Under HADP, we have developed a model orchard on 100 canals, together with the University and Department of Horticulture. The basic purpose of this model orchard was to bring in mechanization and automation, and to reduce the use of pesticides in our orchards, such as apple orchards. The landholding capacity in Kashmir is very low, and we had to struggle a lot to collect 100 canals of land at one place. The land on this 100-canal land is about 58 farmers' land, and there are some farmers who have 2, 4, or even 5 canals of land. Some have 2, 3, or even 4 canals of land. The fruit you see here in this orchard is on 100 canals. This is the first year of this orchard. It was planted last year, and today it is in production. According to the data provided by the farmers here, this year's income from this 100-canal orchard is about Rs. 1 crore. Rs. 100,000 from one canal in the first year. The cost of production was so low that they had to spray 100 canals of land in just two days, if any medicine had to be sprayed. Apart from that, we used to need 200-250 litres of medicine for one canal of land, and now we only need 30 litres. So 90% of the use of medicine has also been reduced. In this way, we have reduced the pesticide load of this model orchard system, the cost of production has been reduced, the quality of produce has improved, and the environmental impact of using pesticide has also been reduced. The farmers here are very happy. They want to convert this into agro-ecotourism. We will call people here and show them that if we want to do horticulture, how to do it in a new and scientific way. Along with that, their income has also increased a lot. We are happy that the initiatives that we have taken in HADP, and what we thought three years ago about how to increase our income, how to save our environment, and how to reduce our pesticides, and how to increase good agriculture practices, and how to improve the quality of produce. So I was very happy to meet these farmers here today. I also took the Honorable Chief Secretary, Mr. Atul Lallu, online. We shared all these observations with him, and he was also congratulating them.