As the Jammu & Kashmir government prepares its Budget for 2026–27, there is a compelling case for placing agriculture and horticulture at the very heart of fiscal planning. This is not a sectoral plea driven by sentiment, but an economic imperative grounded in reality. Agriculture and allied activities, especially horticulture, form the backbone of J&K’s economy, sustaining livelihoods, ensuring food security and anchoring rural stability.
Over seven lakh families directly depend on horticulture in the Valley alone. Apples, walnuts, cherries, almonds and vegetables are the primary economic lifeline for a vast population. Yet, the sector today stands at a critical crossroads, battered by climate shocks, infrastructure gaps, market disruptions and policy neglect.
The recent memoranda submitted by Kashmir Fruit Growers Union and Cold Chain Association ahead of the budget underline the scale of distress. The devastating deluge of 2025, followed by prolonged highway closures, exposed the extreme vulnerability of J&K’s farm economy to disasters and logistical bottlenecks. Thousands of fruit-laden trucks stranded, orchards suffered irreversible losses, and growers were left without safety nets. Losses running into thousands of crores cannot be treated as episodic misfortune; they demand structured fiscal response.
What is equally worrying is the absence of robust risk-mitigation frameworks. Unlike field crops, horticulture still lacks a comprehensive crop insurance mechanism. Market Intervention Schemes that once cushioned growers against price crashes have been allowed to fade away, even as input costs rise and market volatility intensifies. Post-harvest infrastructure—cold storage, CA facilities, processing units—remains grossly inadequate and often exploitative in pricing, eroding farmers’ margins further.
The budget must therefore move beyond routine allocations and adopt a reform-oriented approach. This includes compensation for disaster-hit growers, revival of MIS, horticulture-specific insurance, regulation and expansion of cold storage infrastructure, support for modern packaging, district-level testing laboratories, and relief for debt-stressed small growers. Equally vital are investments in irrigation, mandis, renewable energy for cold chains, and protection of horticulture land from unplanned infrastructure expansion.
Prioritising agriculture in the J&K budget is not about favouring one sector over another. It is about strengthening the foundation on which J&K’s economy rests. A budget that secures farmers secures livelihoods, rural stability, and long-term economic resilience. For Jammu & Kashmir, there is no sustainable growth story without a strong, protected, and future-ready agriculture sector.
