On 21 September 2026, growers, buyers and other stakeholders from across the Kashmir Valley gathered at a Buyer Seller Meet held at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Complex, Srinagar. The meet was presided over by Agriculture Minister Javid Ahmad Dar and attended by several legislators representing agrarian constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir. The Department of Horticulture Planning and Marketing used the occasion to place fresh numbers before growers and traders, and those numbers help explain both the scale of the sector and how far its marketing system has travelled.

Fresh fruit production in Jammu and Kashmir touched 23.18 lakh metric tonnes in 2024-25, with apple alone accounting for 20.56 lakh metric tonnes, or nearly 89 per cent of the total. About 92 per cent of this fruit grows in the Kashmir Valley. Once walnut and other dry fruits are added, the combined output of fresh and dry fruit rises to 26.46 lakh metric tonnes. Behind these tonnage figures sits a large economic footprint. Horticulture contributes close to eight per cent of the Union Territory’s gross state domestic product and supports more than seven lakh families, directly or indirectly. Jammu and Kashmir alone accounts for about seventy five per cent of India’s apple production, a concentration that makes the fate of this one crop closely tied to the fate of the regional economy.

The scale of trade this generates is considerable. In 2024-25, fresh fruit worth 6,003 crore rupees was sent outside the Union Territory, with 13.35 lakh metric tonnes moved through 1.02 lakh trucks. Narwal in Jammu and Sopore in Kashmir led all mandis in turnover, followed by Parimpora in Srinagar, Shopian, Anantnag and Kulgam. These figures point to a trade network that has grown well beyond what it once was.

For decades, growers had little choice but to sell through the Azadpur mandi in Delhi, a dependence that left them exposed to a single buyer and weak bargaining power. That picture has changed. The department now operates 37 regulated mandis, made up of five terminal markets, twenty satellite markets and twelve Apni or farmer mandis, spread across both divisions. Growers also get daily arrival and price data through Agmarknet, along with market........

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