Srinagar: Apple stocks procured under government Market Intervention Scheme are piling up at Fruit Mandi Shopian, after the government stopped movement of trucks in south Kashmir in the aftermath of attacks on truck drivers.
The farmers have been facing tough times with no space left for new stocks at Fruit Mandi Algar in South Kashmir’s Shopian district.
An official dealing with the procurement of apple crop under Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) at the mandi said that huge stock of apple boxes piled up after authorities halted the movement of trucks in the area in wake of transition of J&K into two union territories and several killing of non-locals in south Kashmir parts.
He said the authorities have halted all the trucks at Qazigund on National Highway and Hirpora village of Shopian district on Mughal Road last week, after evacuating them from earlier identified “safe zones”.
“The complete halting of trucks led to stocking of apple fruit in the mandi, as no vehicle could ferry fruit boxes to outside mandis in last over a week,” he said.
Farmers have fearing huge loses in case the perishable crop is not transported to outside markets in time. To avoid loses in absence of buyers in the area and non-availability of transportation, the farmers preferred to sell their crop to the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED), which is the nodal agency for procuring apples under MIS.
Initially, people were reluctant to sell their crop to government under MIS.
“We have procured thousands of apple boxes in last few days after huge rush of farmers, which led to stocking,” an official said. “We have stopped procuring the crop till the stock was not cleared from the mandi stalls”.
“The registration process is on and anyone can register to sell their fruit here,” he added.

Mir Iqbal