Early Times Report
Ramban, Dec 8: The Ramban district in Jammu region is coming up as a new belt for superior quality of walnuts besides the Kashmir region, known for producing best quality of the nuts.
"No doubt, Kashmir province is well known for producing the walnut but at the same time it is very right to say that district Ramban can also produce superior qualities of walnut", Chief Horticulture Officer, Ramban, Lokesh Bali said.
The walnut is also produced in some parts of district Doda, Kishtwar, Rajouri, Poonch including the hilly regions of district Reasi, but among all these districts, top production of walnut comes from Ramban, Bali said.
The district accounts for Rs 80 crores of walnut sales annually, he said.
Giving further details, Bali said that the major crop grown in this district is walnut. "Around 5,193.70 hectare of land is being used for developing walnut orchards and around 7247.17 metric tons of production was made in 2015-16", he said.
Bali said that to showcase the success of the department a film has been shot on walnut production in the district, which got boost to rural economy.
This clearly vindicates that there is a big potential for growing wide varieties of walnut. Major walnut growing areas are Pogal Paristan, Senabati, Hochak, Panchal, Trigam, Neel and Sangaldan. In these areas the farmers are earning a good livelihood from the walnut cultivation, the official said.
Mohammad Ashraf Khan, who was serving in a bank, resigned from the job and set up a walnut processing unit in Banihal belt of the district and has launched three brands of walnuts.
"He has changed the economy of the farmers in Ramba", Bali said.The walnut processing has employed around 150 people including boys and girls, he said.
The owner of the unit said that walnut worth of crores is purchased every year from local farmers for the markets in Jammu, Delhi, Chennai, Gujarat.
"From Pogal Paristan walnut is sold from the plants which are grown with the help of locally prepared manure," said Bashir Ahmed Naik an orchardist of Maligam, Ramban. |
