Shopian, Oct 17: An overpowering stench of rotting apples hangs over orchards in south Kashmir’s Shopian district, where piles of decayed fruit lie beneath the trees after repeated hailstorms damaged the crop.
Growers in villages including Dangam, Wangam, Kachdoora and Amshipora said a significant portion of the hail-damaged apples rotted on the trees before they could be harvested.
Several hailstorms this season caused extensive damage across Shopian, one of Kashmir’s major apple-producing districts. The hailstones bruised the fruit, making it prone to decay, and by the time harvesting began, much of it was unfit for sale.
“There was no option but to discard such apples,” said Showkat Ahmad, a grower from Dangam. He said hail damaged more than 60 per cent of his crop, and a substantial portion of the affected fruit rotted on the trees.
The smell in some orchards is so strong that walking through them has become difficult, he said.
In densely planted orchards spread over hundreds of kanals, mounds of rotten apples lie on the ground. Fruit that would normally have been picked, sorted and sent to markets has become waste.
Growers must now spend extra time and labour clearing the orchards, even as they absorb the financial loss. “There is now additional work. We have to clear our orchards of these rotten apples,” said Mushtaq Ahmad, another farmer.
The damage has come at a crucial stage of the horticulture cycle, when growers depend on the harvest to recover the costs of maintaining their orchards through the year. With large quantities of fruit unmarketable, they have far less produce to sell.
For many growers, the decaying fruit beneath the trees is a reminder of the crop they could not save.
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