Apple economy latest casualty in strife-torn Kashmir
SHOPIAN: Kashmir’s apple orchards, which are the backbone of the economy and source of earning a livelihood for nearly half the people living there, are deserted, with fruit rotting on trees at a time when they should have been bustling with harvesters.
Losses are mounting as insurgent groups pressure pickers, traders and drivers to shun the industry to protest an Indian government crackdown. Apple growers call it a “silent war declared on their stomachs.” “That’s almost $1,200 (₹85, 383) worth of produce. It’s all a waste now,” said apple farmer Mohammad Shafi, pointing to a heap of rotten apples thrown into a pit in Wuyan, a small village 37 miles (60 km) east of Srinagar, the region’s main city.
Kashmir’s pristine mountainous landscapes, ski resorts, lake houseboats and orchards have made it a tourist attraction. However, an armed rebellion that began 30 years ago in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir rages on. In August, PM Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government stripped Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status and imposed a strict crackdown, sending in tens of thousands more troops, detaining thousands of people and blocking mobile phones and internet services.
More than two months later, the region remains under a communication blockade. Authorities have restored landline services and some cellphones, but not internet, making it difficult to reach traders outside the region to conduct business.
Apple growers were expecting a bumper crop this year. Now, they say, losses are in the millions of dollars and the business might suffer its worst year since the beginning of the insurgency that has resulted in almost 70,000 deaths. “It all started in August. We haven’t recovered since,” Shafi said.
On Wednesday, police said suspected militants shot dead an apple trader and injured another in a late-night attack in southern Shopian. The same day, a migrant labourer who worked at a brick kiln was also shot dead, cops said.
So, the orchards lie empty of harvesters, as overripe fruit ripens and drops to the ground. The apple trade, worth $1.6 billion (160 crore) in exports in 2017, accounts for nearly a fifth of Kashmir’s economy and provides livelihood to around 3.3 million people. This year, less than 10% of the harvested apples had left the region by October 6. “It will take us years to recover from this shock,” said Basheer Ahmad Basheer, who heads an apple growers’ union in Srinagar.
The authorities set up four wholesale markets to help support the industry, but as of October 6 those markets had only managed to buy $300,000 worth of apples out of what was expected to be a crop worth close to $1.9 billion (₹190 crore) this year. “We have only managed to dispatch two trucks from this place to outside Kashmir,” said Anshul Mittal, a government official at a wholesale market set up in Parimpora, Srinagar. Many of the officials sent to help out at the market said the effort was failing, partly because truckers are refusing to take the risk of shipping the apples.
Shafi’s orchard in Wuyan usually produces almost 10,000 boxes of apples per year. He says he’s only sold 1,000 boxes this year. Half of the rest of the harvest had to be thrown out because the apples were bruised from falling off the trees, he said.
Growers like Shafi often rely on loans to pay for labour, fertilizer and other costs.
The despair trickles down to unskilled workers like 22-year-old Sheeraz Ahman, who was counting on 45 days of work to earn around $400 (₹28,461) to help support his family.So far, he’s only gotten five days of work.
One young apple picker, who asked not to be named out of fear of the authorities, said he preferred to be hungry rather than trapped in an army camp.