| News Details |
| Jammu grows apples in hot summer; threshold of economic revolution | | 
Jammu, June 24, (Scoop News)-Apples growing in Jammu in hot summer? It sounds incredible but it has been made a reality. Apple has so far been synonym with Kashmir or Himachal but now Jammu too is making a strong foothold for Apple.
More than 10,000 apple plants have been grown in hot belt of Jammu region and these plants have beautiful apples, some in cluster also. One such model farm has been created at the farm of Sahib Bandagi, Ranjadi in Samba district where 1600 summer apple plants named as Hariman-99 were planted in an area of 150 kanal in 2016. Today, the plants have given second crop.
After seeing the grand success of summer apple in this farm in kandi belt, it is being felt that Jammu is on the threshold of an economic revolution. The promoter of this “revolution in offing” is a celebrated rural Surgeon of Udhampur, Dr. K. C. Sharma who besides doing innovation in his original field of surgery has proved his mettle on horticulture sector by promoting summer zone apple in Jammu and elsewhere in the country. The biggest achievement is the development of a hybrid variety of apple that can withstand the summer heat up to 46 degree Celsius.
A groups of retired civil servants under aegis of Central Govt Pensioners’ Welfare Association today visited Ranjadi Apple farm and saw a great success story of a private initiative in popularizing summer zone Apple in Jammu. Intriguingly, the State Govt Horticulture Department didn’t show any interest in effort despite having being approached couple of times for its patronage. But that didn’t dishearten the crusader.
Originally, this unique variety of apple was developed by a low ranking official of H.P. Forest Deptt at Bilaspur, Hariman Sharma in whose name this variety has been named. Dr. Sharma and his team further improved this variety locally including grafting with Kargil Apple plant and Plum fruit plant and made this variety of apple more juicy and fit for tropical and sub-tropical areas. With consultation of local researchers and field workers, a proper plantation protocol has been developed and now followed for better yield. It includes instructions for preparation of land, creation of pits and filling these, transplantation of saplings, irrigation schedule, weeding, pruning and protection sprays. The plantlets of summer apple are planted during December – February.
Another important and unique improvement was to get a cluster of 11 apples from these trees. On the second year of its plantation, the dwarf apple tree is yielding minimum of 50 kg of good quality apples. The yield can be increased by using organic manure and proper spacing. The plant nursery has been created at Bhalwal near Jammu besides Pathankot.
Dr. Sharma who has a great passion for this promoting summer apple gives credit for it to Shri Madhu Parmahans of Sahib Bandagi Ashram who had immediately offered Ashram’s land for this experiment two years ago. Today, this Apple Farm has become a new destination in the area. G N Naik retired IAS officer from Tral is his co-crusader in this venture.
According to Dr. Sharma, as a first step he succeeded in planting these summer apple saplings in important places including Rashtrapati Bhawan, J&K Raj Bhawan, houses of judges, senior serving and retired bureaucrats, prominent citizens etc. That created much needed authenticity of the initiative. There is hardly, any State or UT in the country from where demand for this apple plant has not come. So far, 3.50 lakh Summer Apple plants have been planted all over the country, a fact not known to many. Jammu has become a hub for distribution of this unique variety of summer apple plant all over the country. But its commercial cultivation has not yet taken up.
The Pensioners spent about two hours at the orchard interacting with Dr. Sharma and the management of the Ashram led by Sham Lal, an ex- IAS officer. The visiting group included J K Vaid, General secretary of the Association, K B Jandial, former Member J&K PSC, P. P. Sharma, SD Swatantra and Dr. C M Seth, all former Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Dr. Subhash Gupta, former Principal, Jammu Medical College, C L Koul, former Chief Town Planner, K K Raina, B D Mal Barna, ex- Director GSI, B B Magotra and Ashok Sharma.
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