Erratic weather and climate change affect Kashmir's freshly harvested strawberries

In Kashmir, the season’s first crop of strawberries is being harvested. However, due to climate change and erratic weather, produce has been affected badly.

Meanwhile, in Gasso, known as the strawberry village of Kashmir Valley, families are currently busy harvesting strawberries as it's the first produce of the season in the Kashmir region.

Many farmers at Gasso village in the Hazratbal area of Srinagar say the crop has been hit due to untimely rainfall this year which has resulted in less overall production. 

Strawberry cultivation was recently established in Kashmir, and due to the valley's ideal climatic conditions, it has created employment opportunities for residents. Farmers in the Valley have been producing tonnes of strawberries every year, but the weather has had an impact this time. 

Farmers have also long demanded a cold storage facility for their produce, which has a relatively limited shelf life. After the food is harvested, the farmers must pack it and ship it to the market the same day. The producers claim that if cold storage is given, they will be able to ship these strawberries outside of Union Territory (UT).

"I want to appeal to the horticulture department that the way they have increased the cold storage facilities for apple growers in south Kashmir has helped, and in comparison, with apples strawberries have no facilities. The strawberries grown in Srinagar don't have a single cold storage facility available, if the shelf life of the fruit is one week, how will this sustain? It even rots at normal temperature within a day and I request the government to create a cold storage facility for the strawberry growers in Srinagar. The whole village harvests the strawberry together and imagine it can't be taken together to market and keeping it at home without proper storage. It rots the fruit and leads to a lot of losses," said Aamir Manzoor, Expert Farming.