Growing walnut imports have Kashmiri producers worried

23-Oct-2025 11:11 AM

Srinagar. Walnuts were once the backbone of the rural economy in the Kashmir Valley, and a large number of farmers earned their livelihoods from their cultivation.

However, the walnut industry there is now struggling to survive due to a lack of infrastructure and poor market connectivity.

Furthermore, Kashmiri producers are facing immense competition from the vast majority of imported walnuts, making it extremely difficult for them to compete.

India produces over 320,000 tons of walnuts annually, with Jammu and Kashmir alone contributing over 95%. Nationally, approximately 109,000 hectares are covered with walnut plantations, accounting for 89,000 hectares of commercial production. Of these, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand also have small production areas.

Jammu and Kashmir continues to dominate walnut plantations and production, but producers there face numerous challenges and challenges.

The state lacks modern facilities for processing and packaging walnuts and there is no organized or systematic dry fruit market.

During the last decade, many walnut processing units in Jammu and Kashmir have closed down, further increasing the crisis for the producers.

Producers in Pulwama say that these processing plants were forced to close down because they could not compete with cheap walnuts imported from countries like California (USA), China and Chile.

Apart from this, the imposition of 5 percent GST on the walnut industry has also increased the problem. The government should immediately remove this GST. A systematic market for walnuts is necessary.