Jammu & Kashmir, India's northernmost region, remains an important hub for the country's fruit basket. "While considerable progress has been made in cold storage, grading, and packing infrastructure, the region's apple and soft fruit sectors continue to face disruption, especially in the pre-harvest stages of production," says Izhan Javeed, CEO of agri-tech solutions provider Fruit Master Agro Fresh Pvt. Ltd.
"Kashmir grows nearly 2.2 to 2.3 million tonnes of apples annually, accounting for about 75 percent of India's total output," says Javeed while mentioning his network of over 15,000 growers. "But despite this scale, productivity is still low, just around 15 metric tonnes per hectare compared to global averages of 40 to 50 MT. More importantly, the proportion of A-grade fruit we're producing is significantly below international benchmarks."
© Fruit Master Agro Pvt. Ltd.
Javeed emphasizes that the primary challenge lies not in post-harvest facilities, which have improved over the past decade, but in orchard-level inefficiencies. "There's a strong narrative around post-harvest gaps, but it's time we shift focus. The real intervention required is in pre-harvest and in our understanding of what the farmer is doing at the root level, in the orchard," Javeed adds.
Fruit Master Agro Fresh is working to narrow this pre-harvest productivity gap through orchard modernization and precision agronomy. "We are working towards developing high-density orchards adapted to Kashmir's terrain. Our trellis systems with pre-stressed concrete poles and custom anchoring not only weather extreme conditions, but also reduce long-term orchard maintenance while supporting better yields during peak fruiting," Javeed explains. "We have started offering AI-powered advisory, climate-smart inputs, and sustainable crop planning to help farmers grow the right crops at the lowest possible input cost," he adds.
© Fruit Master Agro Pvt. Ltd.
Javeed also highlights some of the challenges for growers of soft fruits, mainly due to a lack of pre-cooling and fragile first-mile systems. "Kashmir currently has around 500,000 metric tonnes of cold-chain infrastructure with most of it dedicated to apples," Javeed mentions. "Cherries, apricots, and pears are still extremely underserved. Poor handling and the absence of pre-cooling at the orchard level means bruising, fungal issues, and spoilage occur even before fruits reach controlled-atmosphere storage."
He emphasizes that the weakest link remains farm access to logistics. "The first mile, from remote orchards to aggregation points, is where we lose the most quality. Farm-gate reefer access is critical for small and mid-sized growers. We also need a cold-chain designed specifically for soft fruit and better traceability systems that capture real-time temperature and transit duration data," Javeed explains.
© Fruit Master Agro Pvt. Ltd.
Looking ahead, Javeed remains optimistic. "With sensor-based shelf-life tracking, solar-powered packhouses stabilizing operations in energy-scarce zones, and integrated market linkages, we have the tools to make horticulture in Kashmir globally viable. Our teams are working to bring consistency and predictability to what has long been a fragmented supply chain. For Kashmir's farmers to thrive, modernization must begin in the orchard," Javeed concludes.
For more information:
Izhan Javeed
Fruit Master Agro Fresh Pvt. Ltd.
Tel: +91-99 99 957 973
Email: [email protected]
www.fruitmaster.in
