The apple orchards of Kashmir, which normally symbolise autumn abundance, now stand as a stark reminder of how fragile India’s agricultural lifelines can be. Torrential rains and sudden floods have battered the Valley just as harvest season peaked, severing key transport routes and leaving growers staring at catastrophic losses. With the Jammu–Srinagar highway closed by landslides and the alternative Mughal Road proving unreliable, truckers have been stranded for days on end.

Their cargo of apples ~ perishable, high-value, and time-sensitive ~ has begun to rot in transit, erasing months of painstaking cultivation. The economic toll is staggering. Estimates of losses already range between six and seven billion rupees, and the damage is not merely financial. Families who depend entirely on their orchards are watching their livelihoods decay in real time. The price of packing materials has quintupled, and even when........

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