September 14, 2023 02:10 am | Updated 02:10 am IST - SRINAGARThe Apple Farmers’ Federation of India (AFFI), J&K chapter, on Wednesday sought J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s intervention to restart the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) for Kashmir’s apple industry. The AFFI, in a letter written to the L-G, highlighted the MIS’ role in procuring inferior quality C-grade apples in the Valley since 2017, when the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) first launched the scheme. Yield cut by 50%It claimed that the cumulative effect has been the reduction of total yield by 40 to 50%, that is a drop-in yield by one million metric tonnes or more. “What is even more concerning is that a larger portion of this year’s produce is turning out to be inferior C-grade culled fruit,” it said. “However, the State government through its procurement agency, the HPMC, has declared that culled fruit would be procured at Rs 12 per kilo,” the AFFI said.

Source: The Hindu September 14, 2023 13:38 UTC