Kashmir Apples Growers Stare At Losses As Highway Closure, Floods Hit Horticulture
Apple dealers say around 1200-1500 trucks are stranded on the Srinagar-Jammu highway, and the fruit in them has started rotting.
Published : September 7, 2025 at 3:01 PM IST
Srinagar: Apple farmers in Kashmir are facing the double whammy of recent floods ravaging their orchards and the produce sent out of the Valley lying in trucks, at least 1,500 of them, stranded on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.
The NH-44 -- the only all-weather road link between Kashmir and the rest of the country -- has been repeatedly closed for traffic since August 24, when landslides triggered by rain damaged a portion of it.
While its closure impacts both travellers and businessmen in the Valley, it is the apple industry that faces the brunt of it since the produce rots in trucks, causing massive losses to the horticulture sector. Amid this, recently, orchards in south Kashmir were damaged as muddy, gushing floodwaters uprooted trees and scattered ripe apples. At many places, several kanals of apple orchards were washed away.
The highway remains blocked between Udhampur and Chenani tunnel at Jhakeni and Tharad, a 250-meter stretch, buried by the landslide last month. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, during his visit to the highway last week, said it will take 20-25 days to completely restore the road for traffic.
The Mughal Road, which connects Kashmir with Jammu through Shopian and Rajouri districts, remains the alternative road for traffic. But due to the condition of the road, traffic police have opened it only for light motor vehicles and six-tyre trucks and lorries.
“This decision has completely halted the movement of 10, 12 and 14-tyre trucks which carry most of the high-density varieties of apple, pear and peach,” Fayaz Ahmad Malik, president Sopore Fruit Dealers and Growers Association, told ETV Bharat on Sunday.
Malik said around 1200-1500 trucks are stranded on the highway at Qazigund (in south Kashmir's Kulgam district) for two weeks and the fruit in them has started rotting.
He said the government must allow 10, 12, 14-tyre trucks from Mughal road so that the perishable fruit can reach the markets outside Kashmir and the apple sector avoids the losses.
“If the highway status remains the same as it seems from the present condition, Sopore fruit mandi will alone face a loss of Rs 150-200 crore,” he said.
Not just apple farmers and traders, the drivers who transport this fruit are also at the receiving end, since the apple harvesting season is when they make most of their money.
Farooq Ahmad, a driver from Sopore, told ETV Bharat that his truck full of apple boxes is stranded in Qazigund. “My vehicle bank loan will remain unpaid if I don't earn. Driving trucks is the only source of livelihood for me and hundreds of drivers like me,” Ahmad said.
The horticulture sector is the backbone of Kashmir’s economy, with 20-25 MT of apples produced annually in the Valley. This quantity makes up 78 per cent of the apple production in India, and provides livelihoods to 35 lakh persons directly or indirectly during the season.
Bashir Ahmad Bashir, president of Kashmir Fruit Dealers and Growers Association, said that the horticulture industry fetches Kashmir Rs 15,000 crore annually. “In the ongoing season, the hurdles in transporting high-density apple varieties could lead to Rs 500 crore loss to the sector if the highway is not restored immediately," Bashir said.
Abdul Ahmad Bhat, an apple grower from Zainapora in Shopian, who had shifted to high-density farming four years ago, said his whole yield will rot if the highway is not restored or if the Mughal road is not opened for large trucks.
Aijaz Mir, a former PDP legislator from the apple belt of Shopian, another district in south Kashmir, said that due to the closure, the situation has turned extremely grim for fruit growers. “Apple businessmen have stopped purchasing apples directly from orchards, and those who are buying are offering rates that are nearly 60% lower than usual. This has pushed our hardworking growers into unbearable losses and distress,” Mir said, urging the chief minister Omar Abdullah to intervene.
Amid this, on Sunday, heavy downpour again hampered the efforts of the National Highway Authority of India to restore traffic on the landslide-hit highway.
“The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway is still closed for vehicular movement. Restoration work is going on,” a traffic department official said, advising people not to undertake their journey on the arterial road till the restoration work is completed.
National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) Project Manager, Ramban sector, Shubam said heavy rains again disrupted the restoration efforts Sunday morning to clear the 250-metre stretch, which remains buried under a hill, in Udhampur district.
“Explosives were used to blast giant boulders as part of efforts to ensure early restoration of the highway. Despite the rain, our men and machines are on the job but the work is going on at a slow pace,” he said.
Meanwhile, the pilgrimage to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine atop Trikuta hills in Reasi district remained suspended. The yatra was suspended hours before a landslide triggered by heavy rains along the old track at Adhkuwari on August 26 claimed 34 lives and left 20 others injured.
A meteorological department spokesperson has predicted light rain or thundershowers at scattered to many places across J-K with a possibility of moderate rain or thunder showers over a few districts of the Jammu division towards late night or early morning on September 7 and 8.
Read More
