J-K Horticulture Department introduces machines for rapid shelling of almonds

SRINAGAR - The Horticulture Department in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday has introduced farmers here, to the machines that can rapidly shell almonds.

The almond hulling machine speeds up the shelling process, managing to work on large amounts of almonds at a time.

The Director of the Horticulture Department Ghulam Hassan Bhat said that the machine is capable of shelling about 250 kilograms of almonds in an hour.

“This machine has the capacity to shell out 2.5 quintals (250 Kg) of almonds within one hour. Whereas if you assign the same work to a labourer, he would take approximately four days to shell one quintal (100 Kg) of almonds,” said Bhat.

Almond growers welcomed this technological innovation and said that with the machine, they would be able to get better rates for almonds.

“It’s (the machine) very necessary. If there are two-three machines in the village it would help us to shell the almonds and also transporting it in the market on time, we’ll get better rates, so it would be of great help to the growers,” said Ghulam Rasool Mir, an almond grower.

For the current season, the Horticulture Department has chosen not to charge farmers for the use of the machine. The growers only have to provide fuel for operating the machine. By Afzal Bhat (ANI)