Until recently, Kashmir was 'self-reliant' in pomegranate production. But the infestation of a pest, Anar Butterfly, hit this fruit so hard that it is now imported from India and abroad. Vernacularly known as 'Dane', the Kashmiri pomegranate is different from other varieties. Having pink-red exterior, its ruby red seeds have intense flavour with no overbearing acidic taste.

Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, a 70-year-old fruit merchant says that Kashmir used to produce enough pomegranates to meet local demands. "Pomegranate trees were scattered all over Srinagar city. Lal Bazaar, Amda Kadal, Arampora, Bahrar, Baghwanpora and Nowshera were filled with pomegranate trees some 25 years ago, but in due course of time, the orchards were turned into residential colonies", recalls Bhat, a resident of Moulvi Stop, Lal Bazaar.

Barring minimum supplies of a different variety, Kabul, Bhat said, not a single pomegranate was imported into the Valley. "I have been in fruit trade for 40 years and from last 25 years the local supplies (of pomegranate) have been reduced to zero. These days, entire supply of the fruit comes from different parts of India like Maharastra and Gujarat, and from Afghanistan", he said. The experts hold a pest responsible for decline in the production. "Anar Butterfly is significantly responsible for decline in the production. The pest infests the fruit as early as at the flowering stage and in a few days the caterpillars enter the fruit and feed on the pulp", Professor Muhammad Shafi Wani, head of pomology department, SK University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology (SKUAST).

"As the fruit reaches maturity, caterpillars come out of the entry hole and eventually the fruit drops off." Prof Wani says that control measures to fight the pest are dearer to the farmers and "they can't bear the cost of management for the remunerative returns are lesser than expenditure."

"Control measures including spraying with pesticide, bagging of fruits with butter paper before maturity, removing and destroying all the affected fruits and removal of flowering weeds are fairly expensive measures that our farmer can’t afford given the market returns", he said.

He, however, said that Kashmir was self-sufficient in pomegranate in the past because of low consumption of the fruit and "not due to the production."
"Over the years, the demand for the fruit increased primarily due to few factors and to meet requirement, the fruit was to be procured", Prof Wani said. "Two-three decades back Kashmiris were not as health conscious as they are now and their economic condition was also not too good that they could purchase the fruits,” he said. He said that pomegranates fall in the category of rare and minor fruits along with strawberry and grapes and are now restricted to only backyard gardens.