Kashmir's apple harvesting season has become a season of mounting anxiety and despair for the fruit growers. More than 3000 truckloads of apples are left rotting on the Srinagar-Jammu highway, the only roadway that connects the valley to the rest of the country. The estimates go beyond the numbers; over Rs 1,000 crore is lost, and losses are still climbing higher, threatening the sustainability and livelihood of millions in the Valley.
This is a man-made economic tragedy that stems from poor planning, administrative dormancy, and a failure to recognize horticulture as the strategic economic sector of the valley.
Horticulture is the backbone of Jammu and Kashmir’s rural economy. The region produces about 20-25 lakh metric tonnes of apples annually which alone accounts for about 8-9% of J&K’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as per the J&K economic survey 2023-24.
In a region scarred by increasing unemployment, the horticulture sector has also stood as a rare source of income and stability for years. Directly or indirectly, it supports the livelihood of over 4 million people, including fruit growers, labourers, transporters, fruit packers, traders, and exporters.
Every year during harvest season, thousands of trucks transport apples from Pulwama, Shopian, Kupwara, Baramulla and other apple-producing areas to different markets across the country. A simple obstruction sets off a chain reaction that causes intense harm not just to farmers and growers but also to the entire ecosystem of horticulture economics.
At the centre of this economic crisis is the NH-44, the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, claimed as an all-weather road which connects the Kashmir valley to the rest of the country. However, this crucial artery has turned into a logistical nightmare for the people of the valley. Poor maintenance, sudden weather-related closures, and frequent landslides throw traffic out of gear and cause panic.
For daily and essential goods, the highway blockades are inconvenient, and for perishable products like apples and other fruits and vegetables, they are devastating. Apples that should have yielded a farmer up to ₹1000-1500 a box in Delhi, Amritsar, Chennai, or other parts of the country are rotting as trucks have been stranded for at least 20 days or more.
The problem is not new or sudden. Fruit growers have been raising their voices for years and pleading for a fast-track system for perishable goods or a dedicated fruit corridor during the harvest season. Although their demands are reasonable, pragmatic and achievable, they remain unmet, or simply on paper and manifestos.
In an interview, Bashir Ahmad Basheer, Chairman of the Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers-cum-Dealers Union said, “about 2000-3000 trucks loaded with apples and pears are stranded at various points along the highway. These trucks have been stranded for nearly 20 days, and losses of fruit growers and traders have already crossed over Rs 1,000 crores.”
Amid heavy losses to Kashmir's horticulture sector due to weeks of disruption on the national-highway, Indian Railways announced the launch of a dedicated daily parcel train to transport apples and other goods from the Valley to Delhi.
The new service, named the Joint Parcel Product–Rapid Cargo Service (JPP-RCS) flagged off by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha offers a safer, faster, and more economical alternative to road transport. The service, approved by the Railway Board last month, will run daily, departing from Budgam (Kashmir) early morning and reaching Delhi within about 23 hours, ensuring fresh produce reaches the capital markets the next day.
However, the apple growers argue that this cargo train facility is far from sufficient to meet the huge demand-supply chain. The eight-bogie train carrying a load of around 10 trucks is not sufficient to carry the Valley’s fruit produce. In an interview, Fayaz Ahmad Malik, president of the Sopore Fruit Mandi said that Sopore alone, one of Asia's largest fruit trading centres, would require 50 to 100 bogies daily to ferry apples to markets outside Kashmir.
Rail Cargo Service Insufficient
Malik warned that with each passing day, the apple industry is suffering massive losses. Bashir Ahmed, chairman of the Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers-cum-Dealers Union, said the scale of requirement is far higher than what the rail service currently provides.
The current horticulture harvest crisis is deeper than the highway closure. The horticulture crisis suffers chronic structural weakness that keeps it more vulnerable every year that passes. Fruit growers are compelled to distress sales immediately during harvests due to the very low capacity of cold storage facilities in Kashmir. Cold storage capacity is so low that barely 10% of annual production can be stored. Furthermore, fragile market linkages add fuel to the fire.
Around 70-80% of growers directly rely on middlemen, which leaves growers with zero or little bargaining power. Crop insurance and loss compensation schemes exist on paper and files, but these are poorly implemented and belie any hope of relief. Anger and frustration is mounting each year in the face of lack of government intervention. As the fruit growers association members succinctly put it: "It’s not about one bad season or harvest, it's about decades of neglect."
The growers are especially perturbed this year as Kashmir witnessed a bumper harvest after a long time but in this peak harvest season, they are watching their days of labour going waste. The apple crisis is not only causing a sense of betrayal among farmers, but it will also have several other harsh consequences.
Many farmers are serious about switching to less perishable crops and consider reducing the orchard areas. If this happens, it would shrink Kashmir's horticulture industry permanently, and its effect will be felt across India's fruit markets. If the horticulture sector of Kashmir collapses, it would not be just an economic disaster but a social and political one too. The fall in farm incomes could deepen rural distress, fuel anger and alienation.
Both the state and central governments must prioritise Kashmir's horticulture industry. What Kashmiri fruit growers need is comprehensive and solid action plans, not just token gestures from the administration. They need cold storage expansions, dedicated fruit lanes, alternative routes, insurance and compensation. None of these is impossible if there is political will and administrative urgency.
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