Farmers' delegation to meet Union Agri Minister, discuss crop losses in J-K

A delegation of Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh (RKMM), will meet Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Agriculture Minister over the losses suffered by the farmers of Jammu and Kashmir due to snowfall and rains, the farmers' body said.

Reportedly, the delegation was scheduled to meet the Agriculture Minister today, but the meeting got postponed to tomorrow.

The delegation is demanding a relief package at the soonest as well as writing off of their Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loans.

"Five members of the Mahasangh will meet the Agriculture Minister. Our demands are that the snowfall and rains in Jammu and Kashmir should be considered as a natural disaster. A relief package should also be provided to us," said Tanvir Ahmad Dar, a member of RKMM.

"Our main demand is that our KCC loan should be forgiven. The farmers here have suffered huge losses. Even National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) buys the best quality of apples from the farmers, rest of the apples are taken back by the farmers. How can all the apples be of the same quality," he added.

Dar further stated that the government has not yet decided regarding the department that would visit Jammu and Kashmir state to conduct the survey of crop destruction.

"The Horticulture Department has stated a loss of 30 per cent only whereas the Revenue Department has asserted a loss of 45 per cent. These departments are unable to measure the loss," said Dar.

Another member of RKMM, Shiv Kumar Kakka said that a delegation of RKMM stayed in Kashmir for five days and the farmers here have suffered a loss of around 30 to 40 per cent.

"A few trees have been uprooted whereas others have been partially damaged. An apple tree takes almost 25 years to grow completely. The government had assured that NAFED would buy apples from the farmers but it has only bought 309 trucks of apples from the farmers, out of over 1 lakh trucks," said Kakka.