Last year, the Valley had a bumper stone fruit production bringing good dividends to growers especially in north Kashmir. The cherry harvesting season begins mid-May and lasts up to the second week of July. As per estimates of J&K’s horticulture department, cherry is being cultivated on around 2,800 hectares, which yields an annual turnover of around ₹ 130 to 150 crore.

The cherry has already arrived in the fruit mandies of Kashmir especially Sopore and Srinagar where from the cherry boxes are being dispatched to various parts of the country. “Yes cherries are coming in the mandi on daily basis and if we compare it with last year, the production is on lower side,” said Abdul Lateef, a fruit grower in Pattan. “Since this is the first crop of the season , everybody is enthusiastic about its yield and production. Thankfully I had some 600 boxes and fetched ₹ 80 to 180 per box of one kilogram.”

Though cherry is grown ubiquitously in the Valley, the major produce comes from central and northern Kashmir.

The UT’s annual production of the stone fruit is around 12,000 to 14000 metric tonnes, depending upon the weather conditions in the winter and spring.

“I was expecting around 1000 boxes of cherry but could hardly harvest 300 boxes. Last year my yield crossed more than one thousand boxes. Cherry is a very delicate crop so weather always plays a role in its production,” said Waheed Ahmad, a fruit trader in Baramulla.

Officials in the horticulture department said the production had reached around 11,289 and 11,789 metric tonnes in 2017 and 2018, respectively. In 2019 and 2020, the cherry production had also been around 12,000 MT, as per the official estimates. Last year also the production crossed the 12,000 MT. “We are getting cherry boxes everyday but the quantum is quite less what it used to be last year. The less quantity has stabilised the rates,” he said most of the cherries are being directly sent to Delhi, Mumbai and Punjab via air and over trains,” said Zubair Ahmad Bhat an office bearer at Srinagar Fruit Mandi. “Lately, the cherries produced in Kashmir are selling in the local market. The production was 30 to 50 percent down and the production didn’t fetch handsome rates.”