Highway closure leaves Kashmir’s farmers staring at crores in losses
Arjumand Shah
Srinagar, Sept 04 (KINS): The week-long closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway has plunged Kashmir’s orchardists into crisis, with thousands of tonnes of apples and pears stranded in the Valley at the peak of the harvest season.
Continuous rainfall and flash floods since late August have triggered massive landslides, severely damaging the Valley’s only all-weather surface link with the rest of the country.
Traders say that in normal conditions, nearly 400 fruit-laden trucks cross the Qazigund stretch of the Pir Panjal mountains into Jammu every day.
This year, however, farmers are unable to send their produce outside, resulting in mounting losses.
“Hundreds of trucks laden with fruits are stranded here. Pears are the worst-hit. Our orchardists wait all year for this season, and now their livelihoods are at stake,” Basheer Ahmad Basheer, president of the Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers Dealers Union (KVFGDU) told news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS).
The horticulture sector is considered the backbone of Kashmir’s economy, generating around Rs 20,000 crore annually. Official figures say nearly seven lakh families are directly or indirectly dependent on the sector. Disruptions in the movement of fruit, especially perishable varieties, have direct consequences for both growers and traders.
Altaf Ahmad, a fruit trader from Shopian, said the situation is worsening with each passing day. “Farmers will face losses worth crores if the movement of trucks is not streamlined. It has been more than seven days since the highway troubles started,” he said.
Orchardists had been banking on the export of pears before the onset of October rains.
“Usually, by this time, pears reach mandis across the country. We are helpless,” said Ghulam Nabi, an orchardist from Sopore.
He said hundreds of trucks laden with apple are also stranded here.
Although the Meteorological Department in Srinagar has forecast improvement in weather in the coming days, growers fear the damage may already be irreversible. Farmers have urged the government to provide an alternative route for transportation like through direct trains from Srinagar to Delhi. (KINS)
