IMPACT OF 2014 FLOODS ON HORTICULTURE SECTOR OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR IN THE PLIGHT OF NATURAL DISASTER: A CASE STUDY OF APPLE INDUSTRY

Abstract

Disasters are on the rise all the way through the world and may strike any destination without any warning. Almost all the nations of the world witness such disasters. Jammu and Kashmir experienced heavy monsoon rains that began on September 2, 2014 and lead to unprecedented widespread flooding and landslides across the state. The union territory of Jammu and Kashmir is the major producer of apples in India. As the dominant crop of the valley “Apple” proudly represents the fruit industry of the union territory. Therefore the study evaluated the impact of 2014 floods on apple industry of Jammu and Kashmir. It is found from the study that during the year 2015-16, there was loss of 1659 hectares in area under apple cultivation and the major reason for drastic decline is the soil erosion caused due to the destructive floods. Furthermore, the loss in production of apples during 2014 in terms of quantity was 477381 metric tones, resulting to the economic loss of 1444.97 crores approximately, which is a huge loss and it has almost paralyzed the economy of apple cultivators of Jammu and Kashmir.