Every August, as the first apples come off the trees in Sopore, Shopian and Baramulla, Kashmir enters the most consequential fortnight of its economic calendar. Nearly five lakh families, roughly twenty-five lakh people, depend on horticulture for their livelihood. Apple alone occupies about 40 percent of the area under fruit cultivation and accounts for a staggering 90 percent of total fruit production in the state. When the apple season goes well, it lifts households across the Valley. When it doesn’t, it hits........

© Greater Kashmir