‘Walnut rates keep dropping’

A loud cracking noise fills the otherwise silent lane in the Harwan neighbourhood of Srinagar. Mohammad Afzal and Sajid Khan are threshing a walnut tree (Juglans regia), and the noise is the sound of the hard nuts striking and ringing on metal roofs of nearby houses.

At a hundred feet tall or the size of a 10-storey-building, threshing walnuts is a dangerous task. And so the men who harvest walnuts are highly skilled workers known as chanan woel (walnut threshers). Mohammad Afzal, a a resident of Rajouri, Jammu, has been working as a walnut thresher for the past six years. Every season, the 24-year-old from the Bakarwal community (listed as Scheduled Tribe in the state) travels to Kashmir for this work. “I feel scared,” he says, “because the trees are tall.” In addition to walnut picking, he works in apple packaging and tree-cutting in October and November for Rs. 500-700 a day.

During this time, Afzal and other walnut threshers set up make-shift tents near the orchards where they work.

In the harvest season, August to October, Afzal’s work day begins at seven in the morning and usually ends at six in the evening. He can cover four to five trees in a day, depending on the height, climbing and striking the upper branches using long, sturdy poles crafted from willow or other strong wood.

Afzal finds walnut threshing challenging work. “It is a very risky job,” he says. “You have to be extremely agile to balance on the tree while holding a five-kilogram stick and striking the walnuts with force.”

Some walnut trees, especially in Budgam, grow as tall as 150 feet. “During rainy days, we avoid climbing the trees because they become too slippery,” Afzal adds. “Luckily, I have never faced any mishap.”

But his family worry about his safety. “My mother doesn’t want me to do this work because many men in our village have died falling from walnut trees,” he admits.

Walnut trees are the fourth leading cause of injury during harvest season, says a study by Srinagar doctors in 2023.

One such fatality was the late Ghulam Mohammad Ganie. “After my father’s death, everything changed. We had no choice but to leave school and start earning,” says Javaid Ganie, sitting in his room. In 2017, his father, Ghulam Mohammad Ganie, fell from a 50-foot-high walnut tree while threshing walnuts in the village of Tral Monghama in Pulwama district where they live.

“The tree he fell from still stands, but no one dares to climb it anymore. It serves as a painful reminder of the tragedy that shattered our family,” says Javaid, who now works as a salesman. Just 100 metres from their home, the tree is clearly visible from the second floor of the house.

Walnut trader Mohammad Maqbool Sheikh is watching as the labourers collect the fallen walnuts. He owns three walnut trees. Most of the workers in the walnut industry come from Kashmir’s border areas like Rajouri and Poonch. The threshers are paid Rs. 1,500 a day, and given food and accommodation. But not many are signing up. “Local youth are no longer interested in this tough and poorly paid work,” Sheikh says. “If things continue like this, I don’t know how much longer we can sustain this business.”

The collection and sorting of harvested walnuts is done by families of walnut traders and labourers. They peel the outer green husk, thoroughly wash the nuts, and then leave them to dry in the sun for several days – this enhances their flavour and shelf life.

It’s already October – end of the season – and the 65-year-old Sheikh is keen to gauge the final quantity. A walnut trader from Tailbal, he is unhappy with the current state of affairs: “The removal of excise duty on imported walnuts has hurt our market badly.” He adds that in the last 10 years, the economy has crashed, “whether it’s apples, walnuts or other nuts, everything is suffering.” Sheikh has added almond and honey to his trading list to make up for losses.

Jammu and Kashmir produce almost all the walnuts in the country – 98 per cent. Almost 15 per cent of the arable land here is under walnut cultivation and annual production is around 2.66 lakh metric tonnes. But critically, in an economy short on jobs, it ensures daily wage work for thousands of people who have been doing this for generations.

Changing weather patterns have adversely impacted walnuts. “Hailstorms and strong winds damage our production,” says Mohammed Sheikh, a trader who handles upto 5,000 kilos of walnuts a year. “Drought also affects the quality of nuts.”

Weather patterns in this mountainous region are changing and agriculture, horticulture and grazing will be hit. The Indian Network on Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) estimates that the number of rainy days in the Himalayan in the 2030s will impact horticultural crops. A state report admits that temperature in this region has risen by one degree Centigrade since the seventies.

Raja Muzaffar, an environmentalist in Kashmir says, “unregulated development, road widening and prolonged droughts are not just threatening individual orchards but are pushing Kashmir’s rich walnut heritage to the brink of extinction.”

Falling prices due to cheap imports flooding the market have led to a significant drop in the price of Kashmiri walnuts – almost 50 per cent every season, estimates Haji Bahadur Khan, the president of the Kashmir Walnut Growers Association.

“Every year, prices of essential goods increase, but our walnut rates keep dropping,” says Mohammed Sheikh, who also blames government policies for the crisis. “Last year [2023], we sold dry walnuts at 95-100 rupees a kilo, earlier we sold the same at 240-250 rupees,” Sheikh says. “This year, we have no idea what the prices will be, but I think they will remain the same.”

Many have begun to quit the trade. Firdous Ahmed’s family have been selling walnuts for many decades, but recently, the 26-year-old switched to running a small grocery shop in Srinagar. Firdous thinks government intervention could help. “If they stop importing walnuts and prioritise Kashmiri produce, it will benefit us,” he says.

Mohammad Ramzan Dar has been selling walnuts for five decades. No longer are traders lining up at his home, instead the 65-year-old sets up a stall by the road near Nishat Garden, sitting from morning till evening under a makeshift canopy, arranging his wares in plastic crates and cardboard boxes, bringing in Rs. 15,000-20,000 a month. “The lack of timely rain has directly impacted the size of the walnuts, and led to a decrease in demand.”

Despite the challenges, Ramzan’s trade has supported his family. “I’ve been able to marry off my daughters and educate my children with the income from the walnut business,” he says with a hint of pride.