Socio-Economic Impacts of Apple Production in Kulgam District of Jammu and Kashmir

In the present study, the researcher estimates the association between the different socioeconomic variables and the apple production from 2007 to 2014 at the household level in Kulgam, one of the districts of Jammu and Kashmir. This region has witnessed high-level diversification from food crops, especially paddy to high-value cash crops like apple. The share of paddy production of the district in particular and in the State as a whole has revealed a decreasing trend. Paddy land is getting changed into the horticultural land, as the farmers find it to be more remunerative as compared to the cultivation of paddy. Recently, the farmers are showing not as much of interest in paddy cultivation as the paddy production has declined, because of the least profitability in the cultivation of paddy, when compared to the cultivation of non-food crops like apple. The returns from paddy cultivation are not increasing in proportion to the cost involved in the farming, and horticulture is a possible alternative for exploration in the State as paddy production shows a declining trend over the years, thereby decreasing the level of employment opportunities in the region. Farmers, particularly the poor who own very small holdings, are bound to shift from agriculture to rainfed horticultural farming. The area has good climatic zones for growing temperate, sub-tropical and tropical fruits throughout the year. These fruits not only form the supplement diet of the local people but also form an important item of export to other parts of India.