Repora emerging as grapes village of Jammu and Kashmir

Abdul Rehman Bhat, a progressive farmer, described the village as: “It's all green here."

Speaking to Greater Kashmir, the farmer said: "Repora has carved a niche for the cultivation of quality grapes over the years.”

Interestingly a great advantage of Repora grapes is that these get ready when fresh grapes are not available anywhere in the world except Italy, reports Greater Kashmir.

Bhat said the production of grapes was comparatively a little less than previous year, however the market value remained good.

“The area started producing grapes during the rule of Maharaja Hari Singh. He used to grow grapes on his land at Repora which is with the horticulture department today. Hundreds of kanals of land are utilised to cultivate different varieties of grapes which include Sahibi, Hussieni, Thomsan and few more,” Bhat said.

The international standard of the best quality of grapes is to have berry size of 4-5 grams. Repora grapes have a size of about 14-15 gms exceeding international standards.

" A team of experts a few years back visited our village and they weighed the grapes and one grape weighed 15 grams which is nowhere seen in any part of the world " Bhat added.

The grapes fetch a good price in the local markets. The Sahibi variety is sold at Rs 200 per kilogram and Hussaini variety for Rs 100 a kg.