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Floods and road closures have caused severe losses to apple growers in Indian Kashmir

Farmers and industry officials in Indian Kashmir say that apple growers are facing huge losses as floods and road closures disrupted the peak harvest period, leaving growers and trucks in uncertainty.

Landslides have closed the National Highway linking Jammu to Srinagar since August 26, a vital route for transporting apples out of this region.

Heavy rains caused sudden flooding that led to the deaths of dozens by mid-August.

The Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers and Dealers Union chairman, Bashir Ahmad Basheer said that if the situation continues, our entire sector will suffer and collapse. He added that the disruptions in traffic increased costs and exacerbated the crisis.

The packaging costs for a carton containing apples have increased from 40 rupees to 200 rupees.

The apple industry in India is mainly concentrated in the Himalayan regions of Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Most of the apples are consumed locally. Exports are less than 2%, mostly to Bangladesh and Nepal.

In South Kashmir, rivers swollen with water overflowed their banks and inundated orchards, leaving behind uprooted fruit trees and rotting fruits.

Mughal Road is now the only operational route to Kashmir, and the back-up route of the national highway, but it has become unreliable.

The Indian Railways provided some relief to growers on Thursday. They plan to launch a daily parcel service from Badgam, in the Kashmir Valley, to Adarsh Nagar Station in Delhi from September 13, with two carriages for apples.

As their goods deteriorate, truckers stranded in traffic are becoming increasingly depressed.

Abid Ahmad Lones, who had been stuck for 12 consecutive days, said, "I have no idea what to do with the apples or who is to blame." His truckload of apples rotted and he estimated a loss of one million rupees.

Some truckers, stuck on the highways for almost two weeks, shared the same sentiment. Meanwhile, growers who were able to deliver their products are still worried.

Shahid Ahmad said, "My family's sole source of income is apple orchards. But the recent floods destroyed everything." He stood in front of trees splattered with mud, and a scattering bruised fruits scattered throughout his orchard, located at Pulwama.

He said, "We used sell a box for apples at around 1,600 to 1,700 rupees." "Now, nobody wants to buy apples at any price." $1 = 88.0890 Indian Rupees (Written by Sethuraman N.R. in New Delhi, edited by Clarence Fernandez).

(source: Reuters)