AS the third initiative in a row AIKS and P Sundarayya Memorial Trust organised the all-India workshop of apple farmers in Srinagar on June 22-23, 2022. Apple farmers from Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh participated in it along with experts from Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture – CITH, Srinagar, Sher-e Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology, Kashmir (SKUAST-K), Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and All India Peoples Science Network.

Hannan Mollah, general secretary of AIKS, inaugurated the workshop. Gulam Nabi Mallik, general secretary of Jammu and Kashmir Kisan Tehreek, welcomed the participants and guests. P Krishnaprasad, finance secretary of AIKS, introduced the schedule.

The first session was on the history of apple cultivation in India, issues of production and productivity and the role of apple varieties in enhancing production and quality. The paper was presented by Waseem Hassan Raja, a senior scientist from CITH. Vikas Rawal, an economist from JNU, placed the paper on patterns of production, cost of cultivation, marketing and international apple trade. Nissar Ali spoke on the importance of sustainable horticulture and the agrarian economy of Jammu and Kashmir.

In the second session, Sajad Un Nabi, scientist CITH, placed a paper on the impact of disease on apple orchards and their management. O P Bhuraita from AlPSN spoke on issues of human-animal conflict in apple orchards, weather and environmental impact, the need for crop insurance and the experience of mobilising apple growers in Himachal Pradesh.  Tariq A Raja from SKUAST-K presented a paper on achieving precision results in horticulture trials. The paper on procurement, supply chain, value addition and the pattern of surplus sharing was presented by Shubhojeet Dey from P Sundarayya Memorial Trust.

In the third session, farmer leaders from Kashmir and Himachal shared their experiences and presented proposals on the future plan of action.   These include Abdul Rasheed from Shopian,  Basheer Ahammed from Kulagam, Gaurav Thakur from Kullu, HP, Gulam Rasool from Shopian, and Mashkoor Ali from Kulagam, Javed Ghani Ahammed and Sohan Singh Thakur, president of Seb Utpadak Sangh from HP.

In the last session, P Krishnaprasad placed the charter of demands, future plan of action and the significance of policy alternatives on the apple sector to ensure remunerative income to small and middle producers. The open session and press conference were addressed by Hannan Mollah, Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami, former MLA, P Krishnaprasad, Gulam Nabi Mallick and Sohan Singh Thakur.

Apple provides income and life to around nine lakh households in India, mainly from Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, and around 42 lakh people depend on apple income. Around 24 lakh metric tons of apple are produced by India, of which Kashmir contributes 77 per cent of the production. India is the sixth-largest producer in the world. Eight per cent of the GDP of Jammu and Kashmir is from Apple. Most of the apple produced is consumed as a fruit, nearly 95 per cent. Though a significant shift in processing and value addition of apple is also happening.

The productivity question is a major concern since the world average is 60 MT per hectare while India has productivity of only 10 MT per hectare. It shows the potential of attaining the world average, thus ensuring a fivefold increase in the farmers’ income. This issue needs to be addressed by shifting towards high-yielding varieties while stressing due importance of preserving and strengthening the local varieties.

 Another major concern is the perishable character of the fruit. As per an assessment, around 33 per cent of the produce gets wasted at different levels. This needs to be addressed with the support of science and technology to develop controlled atmosphere storage (CAS) and cold chain transport facilities and better cultivation practices, and comprehensive insurance coverage against damages, including the threat of weather and climate changes. Increasing production and productivity will help India to become the number one in the world's production and also in quality and taste. The Kashmir apple has specific brand value, and if properly marketed, that can bring prosperity and growth to the people of Kashmir if there are supporting systems to avoid the present exploitative supply chain system dominated by trade and finance capital and their intermediaries.

The major issue confronting the farmers in the apple industry today is the denial of remunerative prices.

On average, farmers get Rs 24 per kilo, and since 18 lakh MT is the marketable product, then Rs 4,300 crore is the income received by farmers. Against this, the consumer price of apple as per the grade varies from Rs 30 to Rs 300. If we consider Rs 80 as the average commodity price in the retail market, then around Rs 14,400 crore is the value in the consumer market. Thus the farmers are getting below 30  per cent of the value chain, and the remaining 70 per cent of the value- a whopping Rs 10,100 crore is shared by various stakeholders, including intermediaries and commission agents of the wholesale traders, the cold chain owners, transporters,  retailers, credit institutions and as tax to governments. Out of the 30 per cent share received by the farmers, they have to bear the cost of production, including the labour charges hence face the consistent loss that leads to indebtedness resulting in the alienation of land and livelihood.

The union government had allowed the import of apple to facilitate corporate control over wholesale as well as a retail market and thus to help corporate profiteering. Afghanistan does not have even one lakh metric tons of apple production; however, 6 lakh MT of apple was imported from there in the recent period. Such trade manipulations are allowed by the union government to crash the sales price of the farmers, thus helping the corporate traders. The example of renting out the centralised CAS facility to Agrifresh headed by the Gautam Adani group is another example of how the public money is diverted to assist the corporate houses for naked profiteering.

Jammu and Kashmir implemented radical land reforms for the first time in India in 1952 and thus brought to the people economic prosperity, food security and equal distribution of wealth to a great extent. Now, the Modi government has abolished the various land reform laws after the unconstitutional Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019.

As per the laws prior to 2019, the agricultural land was protected with clauses that prohibit change of land use from agriculture to non-agriculture purposes and prohibited sale, lease and mortgage of agricultural land to outside persons who are not residents of J&K.  Now, the union government has given the power to the district level revenue officers to sell land to any outside traders and industrialists, corporate companies and intermediaries and also to convert land use for commercial purpose.  

The farm workers are also not paid sufficiently to live with dignity and face job insecurity hence forced to migrate to other sectors in search of better jobs and income. The widespread indebtedness and distress and resultant pauperisation faced, especially by the small and middle peasants and agricultural worker households’ marks the significance of the demands of MSP@C2+50 per cent and freedom from indebtedness. A massive resistance by the farmers and farm workers against the exploitation and the present policies of the governments that protect the interests of the trade and finance capital is inevitable to force them to consider policy change in the Apple sector.

The producer cooperatives of farmers and farm workers can address the issue of post-harvesting storage management, develop processing industries, promote wholesale trade and transportation and manage distribution up to the retailers and successfully overcome the current exploitation.    The farmers’ producer cooperatives can engage with the administration, the financial institutions and the union government and put pressure to make changes in the policies and extend assistance through various schemes and development projects too. Attaining global productivity standards in the apple sector will bring fivefold income to the farm households. Cooperative farming will help to reduce the cost of production and transform the petty production toward large-scale production. The collective farms can register their member farmers and pool the resources and ensure procurement and supply of inputs, including fertilisers, insecticides, seeds, and farm equipment, at wholesale rates. The producer cooperatives can develop a supply chain in support of the producers, and the surplus thus created can be shared with farmers as an additional price and with the workers as an additional wage.

Amul in Gujarat, the Brahmagiri Project in Kerala and Dairy cooperative institutions in various States are examples of developing producer cooperatives. Such innovative and real-time experiments can resist the present exploitation of large trade and finance capital and its intermediaries. Massive and protracted struggles, resistance and building public opinion are required to facilitate this task.

In this regard, the all India workshop of apple farmers helped the apple farmers’ leaders to recognise the potential and possibilities ahead of the peasant movement in this particular sector. The workshop decided to form the Apple Farmers Federation of India –AFFI and rally the entire apple farmers and farm workers under its banner in the near future. The demand charter will be submitted to the respective union minister on July 25, 2022. A meeting of the representatives of all the apple farmers' associations and organisations to discuss the future plan of struggles based on the common demand charter may be convened at the earliest. October 21, 2022, will be observed as the National Apple Day all over the apple belt region. All India Conference of AFFI will be organised at Srinagar in April 2023.

Addressing the agrarian question in this radical perspective will attract the small and middle peasantry and agricultural workers as well as the rich peasantry. The unity of the peasant classes actively supported by the working-class movement will bring in new political polarisation aiding the interests of the Left and democratic forces in the apple belt region, including Kashmir.