Walnut harvesting is on in the Valley and growers are hopeful of good walnut season this year, raising hopes for a boost to the region's horticulture economy.
Walnut harvesting is an important source of income for Valley's rural folk, especially those who belong to the backward Gujjar and Bakerwal communities.
Brighter Kashmir approached one such walnut harvesting unit near Srinagar to get a sense of the harvesting process.
"The harvesting of walnuts starts in August. It is very hardwork. We have separate teams for plucking and sorting of walnuts. We first pluck the walnuts from trees, then put them in sacks and ferry them to the warehouse for cleaning and sorting,” said Akhtar Ahmad Gujjar, a resident of Gujjar Basti.
He said the walnut harvesting labour force comes from remote places of Kashmir and most of them belong to the Gujjar and Bakerwal communities.
"They take down the walnuts from trees. There is a plucking team, there is a separate team that puts them in sacks and another team carries them to the warehouse. Walnuts shells and seeds have to be kept in the sun to be dried out,” Akhtar said.
Three types of walnuts are grown in the Valley --- Vonth, Kaghazi and Barzul.
Vonth is hard and doesn't break easily because it has a thick and large outer shell while its kernel is small in size. It is mainly sold locally and used for oil extraction.
The Kaghazi or paper walnut is relatively large in size but its outer shell is thin. Its kernel, however, is large and it is white in colour. Kaghazi walnuts can be cracked with bare hands.
Barzul walnuts are medium in size and have a thick and black outer shell. The Barzul kernel is tasty and not completely white in colour. This grade of walnut is easy to crack.
In Kashmir, walnuts are grown organically --- without chemical sprays or fertilisers. Kashmiri walnuts are primarily exported to United Kingdom, Netherlands and France, besides some other countries.
J&K grows and harvests about 2.66 lakh metric tonnes of walnuts annually. They are grown in trees spread across 89,000 hectares of agricultural land.
Over 98 percent of India's total walnut produce comes from J&K.
"The harvest this year is okay,” Akhtar said.
“Without proper planning, you can never have a good walnut harvest. Climate also plays a key role. It needs to rain on time for us to have a good walnut harvest,” he said.
Akhtar said more effort is required for harvesting of apples than harvesting of walnuts but Gujjars and Bakerwals prefer to harvest walnuts rather than apples.
Thousands of people are associated with walnut harvesting and business in the Valley. The harvesting season brings a cheer to the walnut farmers.