The Toxic Spray Killing Kashmir's Apple Dreams

(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer)
A grower in Kashmir spraying pesticides to his apple crop. File photo

By Dr. Waseem Ahmad

I've spent years walking through the apple orchards of Shopian, listening to the rustle of leaves and watching the fruit turn from green to red.

I work at the Ambri Apple Research Centre, and for people like me - researchers, farmers, field officers - the apple isn't just a fruit. It's our economy, our identity, our everyday story.

But lately, something has changed. And it's not just the weather or market prices. It's what we spray on our trees.

Fake pesticides are showing up more and more across Kashmir, and they're slowly poisoning not just our apples, but our confidence.

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In places like Shopian and Sopore, growers are spraying their orchards regularly. They're doing everything they've been told.

But pests keep coming back - scab, aphids, woolly apple aphids, and now the Leaf Miner too.

Fruits are showing blemishes, ripening unevenly, and spoiling faster after harvest. The apples look good from a distance, but the problems lie beneath the skin.

A young farmer from my area, Murtaza Wagay, told me something that stuck with me.“We can't tell what's real and what's fake anymore,” he said.“The dealers give us bottles with labels in English. We trust them, spray them, and sometimes we lose everything.”

This isn't a small concern. Apple farming supports over 3.5 lakh families in Kashmir. A bad season doesn't just hurt income, it pushes families into debt.

Earlier this year, a hailstorm wiped out crops in many villages. And now these fake pesticides are making recovery even harder.

National reports say that 25 to 30 percent of agrochemicals sold in India are fake. Here in Kashmir, the percentage could be higher.

There's little regulation, and enforcement is weak. Anyone can sell pesticides - no license, no lab checks, no questions asked.

Sometimes they come in glossy packaging, cheaper than the trusted brands. Many farmers fall for the price. Others just don't know the difference.

What they don't realise is that these fake products may contain banned substances, or diluted chemicals that do nothing against pests.

Some can even damage the soil or pollute water sources, a serious risk in our fragile mountain ecology.

The effects show up in many ways. When a spray fails, farmers try again. They spend more, apply more frequently, and unintentionally increase the chemical load on their land.

That builds up resistance in pests, and weakens the health of the soil. In the end, everyone loses - the grower, the buyer, and the land itself.

There's a bigger concern too. International buyers are watching. If Kashmir's apples are found with high chemical residues, or banned substances, we could lose access to foreign markets. One bad report can spoil the reputation of an entire harvest.

Some new technologies are trying to help. Pesticide bottles now come with QR codes or invisible tags that you can scan with your phone to check if they're genuine.

A few companies are experimenting with blockchain to trace products from factory to field. AI labs can test samples and detect harmful mixes.

But for most farmers in Kashmir, these solutions are out of reach. We don't have testing labs nearby. We don't have apps in Kashmiri or Urdu. We don't have the training or tools to tell fake from real.

And that's what hurts the most. Not just the loss of crops, but the feeling of being left alone with no way to protect what's ours.

I've seen how this can change. If authorities start cracking down on illegal dealers, if they inspect stock regularly and take strong action, it can make a difference.

If village cooperatives come together to check the products in bulk and share trusted information, farmers will listen.

If we have awareness drives, mobile alerts, and local support apps, we can slowly turn this around.

Right now, most farmers still depend on the advice of shopkeepers, not scientists. And many of those shopkeepers, sadly, care more about profits than plants.

When the apple trees bloom in April, the valley turns white with flowers. It's a beautiful sight, full of promise. But this promise fades fast when the fruit doesn't survive till the market.

Fake pesticides don't just kill pests, they kill trust. And without trust, no industry can survive.

Author is an agricultural scientist at SKUAST-K, Shopian.

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