Sopore, Apr 14: Every autumn, Kashmir’s apple orchards produce billions of rupees worth of fruit that travels to markets across the country and beyond. Yet the men and women who tend those orchards say they remain one bad hailstorm, one highway closure, or one season of counterfeit pesticides away from financial ruin. That contradiction sat at the heart of a press briefing held in Sopore, where fruit growers and dealers at Asia’s second largest fruit mandi gathered under the leadership of Fayaz Ahmad Malik, popularly known as Kaka-Ji, to press the government on demands they say have been ignored for far too long.

Speaking at a press briefing, Malik did not mince words. Despite horticulture sustaining nearly 70 to 75 percent of the local population, he said, the sector continues to be treated as an afterthought by successive administrations.

“The government needs to take this matter seriously and adopt a more focused approach,” he said, warning that neglect of the sector amounted to neglect of the region’s economic backbone.

On the ground, the outlook for this season appears cautiously optimistic. Malik noted that crop conditions are currently promising and growers are hopeful for a good yield. However, he flagged a problem that has persisted for years and continues to bleed the farming community, the rampant availability of substandard and counterfeit pesticides and fertilisers in local markets.

While conceding that enforcement has improved somewhat in recent years, he called on the concerned department to move decisively against those still peddling spurious inputs. He also advised growers to protect themselves by purchasing only from registered dealers, insisting on proper bills and verifying prevailing prices before any transaction. The Horticulture and Agriculture Departments, he added, must step up field visits and ensure farmers receive hands-on guidance in orchards rather than instructions issued from behind a desk.

One of the more urgent concerns raised at the briefing centred on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. With the Amarnath Yatra approaching, Malik extended a welcome to pilgrims visiting the region, but simultaneously flagged the very real threat that traffic restrictions during the yatra period pose to the apple trade. The early fruit season in north Kashmir runs directly parallel to the pilgrimage calendar, and any disruption to highway movement, he warned, could prove costly for growers trying to get their produce to markets on time. He demanded that two-way traffic be maintained on the highway throughout the season, arguing that one-way restrictions cause delays that ripple through the entire supply chain and ultimately drag down market rates.

Packaging emerged as another flashpoint. Malik made a pointed appeal to halt the use of low-quality silicate cardboard boxes, which he said damage apple quality during transit and undermine the region’s reputation in markets across the country. He noted that meetings have already been held with bank officials and carton manufacturers to work toward standardised packaging sizes and weights. With international competition intensifying, he said, the industry can no longer afford to lose ground on presentation. “Proper packaging plays a crucial role in determining market prices,” he said, urging both growers and traders to treat quality norms not as optional guidelines but as binding practice.

On financial protection, Malik called for the immediate rollout of the Crop Insurance Scheme to shield growers from losses caused by hailstorms and other natural calamities that have repeatedly devastated orchards in recent years. He also demanded the introduction of the Market Intervention Scheme to absorb surplus and lower-grade produce, which he argued was essential to stabilising prices during flush seasons.

Malik did not stop there. He took aim at the toll tax levied on locally transported produce heading to the mandi, describing it as an unjustifiable burden on an already stressed community, and demanded its complete abolition. He also appealed to the government to consider waiving Kisan Credit Card loans for growers, pointing out that similar relief has been extended in several other states and that the farming community in this region deserves no less.

The demands, taken together, paint a picture of a sector that produces abundantly but remains deeply exposed to market volatility, infrastructural gaps, financial risk, and policy indifference. For the growers of Sopore, the message delivered on Monday was straightforward: the apple may be Kashmir’s most prized export, but the people who grow it are still waiting to be treated that way.