May 21, 2020
Strawberries, one of the first and finest fruits of the summer season in Kashmir, have hit the market. However, the welcoming of the fruit up till now has received poor reception. Several traders and vendors confirmed that the price of strawberries has dropped to 50% compared to last year sales.
Mohmmad Yaseen, owner of Bhat Trading Company, said that last year the demand for the berries was very high. “Last year we sold one tray of strawberries (2 kg) at a price of Rs. 400 to 450, but this year we are selling it for just Rs. 200 to 250. There is not much demand due to the COVID-19 lockdown.”
He added, “Every year I received supplies of 2,000 kg of strawberries from growers but this year I have ordered only 1,000 kg to 1,200 kg because of the low rates in the wholesale market”.
Like any other state, Kashmir has been greatly affected by the lockdown. Retail shops, market and transport are shut in the valley. Just like every year, farmers were expecting good returns from strawberry business but little did they know a calamity will turn tha=he tables.
“The buying capacity of people has gone down, first due to the lockdown imposed after abrogation of Article 370 (in August) and now due to this Cocvid-19. People want to save as much money as they can. When they can’t even buy staple food, how will they buy fruits,” said Mohammad Rasool, a horticulturalist.
Although his harvest increased this year to 400 trays as compared to 350 last year, he said that the returns are not good as the shelf life of strawberry is quite small.
President of the fruit traders’ association at Parimpora Mandi, Bashir Ahmad Bashir, said that traders are staring at losses as there seems to be no end to the lockdown. “There is a 50% dip in rates of strawberries and in the days to follow they may go down further. There is local consumption of strawberry but it’s not to the extent that all our produce can be consumed within the valley itself. From grower to street vendor, everyone is suffering loss,” Bashir said.