Bitter harvest: Why Kashmir’s apple growers are staring at massive losses

This comes after protests over the closure of the vital road link following heavy rain. But for Kashmir, which leans mainly on this road connectivity to prop up its apple mainstay economy, the road closure has already had an adverse fallout. As truckloads of fresh apples wait for passage by the shuttered road, more and more fruit goes bad, with apple growers now staring at massive losses.

According to Fayaz Ahmad Malik, president of the Sopore Fruit Mandi, some 5,000 trucks lined the road. Nicknamed the ‘Apple Town of Kashmir’, Sopore has India’s second largest fruit market.

“Fruit is rotting in these trucks. A fruit truck costs around Rs 10-12 lakh, and there are hundreds of trucks that were off for Bangladesh. Each of them costs around Rs 20-25 lakh,” he said, claiming that neither “the Centre nor the J&K government is concerned about the huge losses incurred by the fruit growers and traders in the Valley”.

Apple traders at Jammu fruit market, in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir. Traders complain of large-scale damage to apple boxes after trucks were stranded on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway due to multiple landslides. (PTI Photo)

As fruit markets remained closed in Kashmir to protest the closure of the highway, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off a direct Srinagar-Delhi parcel train for apples Monday.

The train has a capacity to carry 23 tonnes of apples in its eight bogies.

On X, Sinha called it “a big step” for apple growers of Jammu and Kashmir. “It will significantly reduce transit time and increase income opportunities for thousands of farmers and boost the agricultural economy of the region,” Sinha said in his post.

Flagged off the first dedicated Parcel Train from Budgam to Adarsh Nagar Delhi. This new freight train service is a big step for the apple growers of the Union Territory to transport their produce to different parts of the country. pic.twitter.com/ZIee5CyhC5

— Office of LG J&K (@OfficeOfLGJandK) September 15, 2025

But apple growers said the train was inadequate, accusing both the Centre and Omar government of not doing enough to resolve the problem. “The fruit that the freight train will carry is barely the load of 10 trucks,” Malik said. “From Sopore fruit mandi alone, 400 apple trucks leave for different parts of the country these days. In another 15-20 days, this number will reach 1,000 trucks. If this isn’t a joke, then what is it?”

As pressure mounted on his elected government, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah spoke Monday to Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari.

This was after Adbullah demanded that the Centre “handover” the highway to his government “if it can’t restore it”.

“The frustration of fruit growers is understandable. They have been very patient for the first few days but watching their hard work rot because NHIDCL (National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited) is unable to stabilise the highway, their patience has worn thin & that is totally understandable,” Abdullah said on X.

Attended a video conference with @nitin_gadkari ji. Officials of @MORTHIndia & @nhidcl were present along with officials of the J&K government. The condition of NH 44 was discussed in considerable detail. The Union Minister issued some instructions that are aimed at addressing… pic.twitter.com/bXcm3zQWlv

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) September 16, 2025

He went on to say: “Some concrete steps will be taken within the next 24 hours to address this problem but I will wait for that to happen before I say any more about the proposed plan of action”.

Even before it was fully reopened, the government had already allowed around 2,000 apple trucks to take the alternate Mughal Road that passes through Shopian-Poonch-Rajouri-Jammu.

Stacks of apple boxes lying at the fruit market that remains shut as growers protest against the 12-day highway closure, forcing traders to return trucks and demand urgent government action to save Kashmir’s fruit economy, at Jablipora, Anantnag district, Jammu and Kashmir. (PTI Photo)

Apple is the backbone of Kashmir’s economy, accounting for 75 percent of India’s total apple production. The J&K’s Economic Survey 2017 reveals that seven lakh families comprising 33 lakh people are directly or indirectly associated with horticulture, the major part of which comprises the apple industry.

The latest official figures, however, say that figure is closer to 50 lakh people and pegs the apple economy at Rs 1,0000 crore. Over 1.45 lakh hectares of land in the Valley are under the cultivation of apple, most of it the ‘Delicious’ variety followed by ‘American’ and ‘Maharaji’.