In 2025 Kashmir’s apple sector faced a near-perfect storm: unseasonal hail, intense monsoon rains during harvest and long highway closures that left tonnes of fruit to rot. Grower groups put losses at around ₹2,000 crore, yet many farmers remain unpaid and desperate. This article explains why help has been slow, what gaps the crisis exposed, and what policymakers should prioritise to prevent a repeat. Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
How bad was the damage? — scale and immediate impacts
Growers and trade bodies estimate losses close to ₹2,000 crore for the 2025 season. The hit came from three linked failures: weather damage to crops, long delays on the Srinagar–Jammu highway (NH-44) that stranded trucks full of apples, and a severe shortage of post-harvest storage. Thousands of truckloads were reported stranded; large quantities of fruit rotted before they could reach markets, collapsing prices and forcing distress sales.
Kashmir produces over two million tonnes of apples a year and supplies about three-quarters of India’s crop — so the economic and social fallout is widespread, affecting growers, labourers, transporters and packing houses. The sector supports millions of livelihoods across the Union Territory.
Why the government response appears inadequate — five key reasons
1. Differing damage estimates and slow, cautious assessments
One immediate problem is disagreement over the scale of damage. Growers and unions used visible spoilage and local surveys to estimate ₹2,000 crore in losses; official preliminary assessments — which must follow prescribed procedures — have often produced much lower figures (for example, the government’s preliminary estimate for flood damage to agriculture and allied sectors was reported at around ₹209 crore). These gaps create a credibility battle and delay relief while officials verify claims.
2. Disaster funding rules and administrative bottlenecks
Central and UT relief normally flows through defined channels such as the State/Union Territory Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and special packages. Releases require documented assessments, inter-departmental clearances and sometimes political sign-off. In a large, dispersed horticulture crisis, compiling the paperwork (block-level damage verification, beneficiary lists, etc.) takes time — time that perishable produce and heavily indebted farmers do not have.
3. Post-harvest infrastructure shortfall
Kashmir’s storage capacity is a structural weakness. Controlled-atmosphere (CA) storage in the UT stood at about 2.92 lakh metric tonnes against an estimated need of nearly 6 lakh tonnes. With cold chain capacity well below requirement, growers could not buffer supply when transport failed, turning a logistics problem into catastrophic loss. Until capacity is raised, the same weather + road disruption combination will always multiply losses.
4. Limited insurance penetration and unsuitable schemes
Although government schemes for crop insurance exist, horticulture — especially high-value tree crops like apples — has long been under-covered or poorly designed for local realities. Weather-based crop insurance schemes were being reworked for apples, but rollout and awareness lagged behind the immediate crisis, leaving many growers exposed. Where policies exist, smallholders often face hassles with claims, assessment standards and delayed payouts.
5. Political signalling and budgetary constraints
Compensation and loan waivers are politically sensitive and budget-heavy. Central and UT governments balance competing demands and may prioritise schemes that can be disbursed cleanly and quickly. Large, open-ended loan waivers risk setting precedents and invite scrutiny; targeted packages require tight beneficiary verification and funding. That combination — political caution plus procedural guardrails — slows the rollout even when the moral case for help is strong.
The human cost — beyond numbers
For many orchard households the loss is existential. Workers lose seasonal wages, farm families defer weddings and medical care, and small growers — often dependent on Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loans — may face default and asset sales after distress sales at rupees-a-kilogram prices. Visuals from the season — rotten apples dumped at road sides, trucks stranded for days — capture the despair that statistics can’t fully convey.
What relief has been promised so far?
The UT government acknowledged specific flood-related losses and said it would seek central assistance; ministers have announced plans to expand storage infrastructure and pilot better insurance arrangements. But cash compensation and comprehensive loan waivers remained outstanding at the time of reporting, and growers argue that promises without quick disbursements do little good when families have immediate debts and daily costs.
Practical steps that could have speeded help — and still can
- Fast-track emergency cash transfers: Small, means-tested cash grants can bridge families until longer compensation mechanisms kick in.
- Temporary freight subsidies and alternative logistics: Subsidise use of alternative routes and chartered transport to move perishable cargo during major highway blockades.
- Temporary purchase programmes: State purchase of distressed fruit for processing or food distribution could reduce distress sales and preserve farmer incomes.
- Accelerate insurance rollout with simpler claim protocols: For 2026, prioritise weather-indexed products that trigger quick payouts based on objective measurements (rainfall, hail reports, road closure duration).
- Rapid CA storage investment and decentralised cold chains: Public–private partnerships to add modular CA units close to production hubs would cut spoilage risk.
Longer-term fixes: resilience, not one-off relief
Helping growers recover must go with reforms that reduce future vulnerabilities: better road maintenance and alternate all-weather routes (upgrading Mughal Road and improving NH-44 resilience), stricter controls on counterfeit pesticides, quality monitoring, and incentives for pack houses and value-addition (processing, export cold chains). Climate adaptation measures — such as hail nets for high-value orchards, diversified cropping, and improved weather forecasting services — will also matter.
Conclusion — a call for urgent, pragmatic action
The 2025 losses exposed policy gaps that turned a tough season into a crisis. Delays in support are not only bureaucratic; they reflect deeper infrastructure, insurance and policy failures. Quick, well-targeted relief — coupled with medium-term investments in storage, insurance and road resilience — can stop a temporary shock turning into generational distress for Kashmir’s apple growers. Policymakers must move from promises to immediate, practical interventions before the next season arrives.
You Might Also Like:
At 13, This Kashmiri Boy Built 31 Apps and AI Tools
Delhi Court Convicts Kashmiri Separatist Asiya Andrabi in UAPA Case
Pahalgam Railway Line Is About Future, Not Fear—Connectivity Is Development
