Shopian, Jammu & Kashmir: In February, Gulzar Ahmad from Alishpora, Shopian, had reason to celebrate. Both his son and daughter were engaged, and their weddings were planned for September. 

On 2 June 2025, a hailstorm lasting 35 minutes destroyed his orchards and shattered his plans.

“I lost 3,000 apple boxes,” he said. “This year, there will be no produce.”

At 55, Ahmad said he had never experienced such extreme weather. 

Hailstorms in the past would last just a few minutes; this one went on for half an hour, crushing trees and fruit. 

With the lost crop worth approximately Rs 30,00,000—each box is worth about Rs 1,000—and no reliable support in sight, his plans are on hold indefinitely.

The apples are Ahmad’s sole source of income, and he was depending on the sale of this year’s crop to finance the weddings, which have now been postponed for at least two years. 

Ahmad said he doesn’t expect meaningful compensation for the loss of his crop.

“We have assessed the situation in the villages affected by the hailstorm. The estimated loss is around 80%, which is significant,” said Nisar Ahmad, district horticulture officer. 

“The government has announced a relief amount of Rs 2 crore,” said Ahmad. “But given the extent of damage, hardly any farmer will receive more than Rs 1,000 or 2,000. The state government doesn’t have enough funds to compensate everyone adequately.”  

“That won’t even cover the cost of a single pesticide spray,” Gulzar Ahmad said.

In South Kashmir’s Shopian, known as the “Apple Town of Kashmir”, the orchard belt has been devastated by back-to-back hailstorms and erratic rainfall over the last two years (here and here), a reflection of a larger climate-change crisis upending lives and livelihoods in J&K and the rest of India.

Crops, particularly apples and cherries, have been destroyed. In some areas, up to 90% of the crop has been lost.

Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) produces 75% of India’s total apple crop. 

According to the 2025 Economic Survey of Jammu and Kashmir, apple cultivation covers 1,72,000 hectares, close to half of the total horticulture area of J&K. 

The apple industry plays a significant role in J&K, directly or indirectly providing employment to around 3,300,000 people, over 10% of the population according to the 2011 census, and about 7% of the state's GDP.

Shopian is one of the region's major horticultural zones, with over 26,231 hectares of land under apple cultivation, constituting 15% of the total apple orchards in Jammu and Kashmir. Pears, cherries, plums, walnuts, and almonds are also grown on a smaller scale.

Pushed To The Brink

Yet over the last 10 years, farmers have struggled with erratic snowfall, spring frosts, pest attacks, and now extreme summer hailstorms. Warming winters disrupt flowering, while pest infestations, once rare, are now routine.

In November 2023, Article 14 reported on the negative effects of climate change in J&K and its impact on apple farmers.  

Farmers say these changes have increased both the cost and stress of maintaining orchards. Buds for next year’s crop were also damaged.

The 2 June hailstorm highlighted the profound impact of unpredictable and extreme weather on farmers. 

It may have been one event, but it pushed thousands of families in Shopian to the brink. With no stable income, farming families have had to postpone weddings and consider withdrawing children from school as loans have become unpayable burdens.

“Several farmers have asked if their loans can be waived,” an official from Jammu and Kashmir Bank’s Shopian branch, who asked to remain unnamed, said. “We can’t do that. Only the government can take that decision.”

Latief Ahmad, a senior scientist at the agrometeorology department of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir (SKUAST-K), said that the region’s climate is undergoing rapid transformation. 

“Temperatures have risen by 2–3°C,” he said. “Apple trees need a dormancy period in winter. When temperatures rise early, development phases get compressed from 10–12 days to just 6–7 days.”

This results in abnormal flowering, lower fruit quality, and increased vulnerability to hailstorms and disease. 

“Hailstorms usually occur in March or April, but now we’re seeing them in June,” he added.

Farmers say what they need is not pity, but policy, strong crop insurance, timely weather warnings, interest relief, and enough financial support to recover orchard maintenance costs.

The National Picture: Climate Distress 

Frequent climate shocks, such as floods and droughts, not only damage crops but also exacerbate farmer debt and rural distress. This increasing climate vulnerability is a concern for the country, where over 50% of the population is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture for livelihood. 

A 2022 study by IPE Global, an international development consulting firm, and Esri India, a geographic information system software and mapping company, found that 85% of India’s districts are vulnerable to climate-related events, including floods, droughts, and cyclones.

In December 2023, Article 14 reported on how repeated droughts in Maharashtra disrupted farming, reduced crop yields, delayed sowing due to water shortages and irregular rainfall, and led to a rise in debt among small farmers affected by climate-related losses.

In Himachal Pradesh, where apple cultivation has expanded by 5.4% between 2017 and 2022, yields have paradoxically declined by 14% in the same period. 

Unseasonal rains, hail, and rising temperatures have disrupted flowering and fruiting cycles.

According to a report by the Indian Himalayas Climate Adaptation Programme, a collaborative effort between a Swiss government agency and the Indian government, the number of rainy days in Jammu and Kashmir’s eastern region is expected to rise by over 15 days by the 2030s. 

The report also suggested that rainfall intensity could increase by 1–2 mm per day, which would have a severe impact on agriculture.

‘This Is Our Entire Life’

In Imam Sahib village, about 9 km from Shopian town, Ghulam Mohammad Wagay, 67, lost this year’s crop from his orchard, which is close to an acre in size. In addition, the hailstorm damaged the trees, possibly affecting next year’s crop as well. 

“The trees themselves are injured. It may take two years for them to recover,” Wagay said. 

Wagay was expecting a harvest of around 1,000 boxes of apples, worth approximately Rs 10,00,000, depending on the quality and market value of the apples. 

He added that the hailstorm has broken his emotional connection to the land. “I used to visit daily, but now I can’t bear to look at the damage.”

His grandchildren, aged 11 and 13, study at Delhi Public School, a private school, in Shopian. With tuition and transportation costs mounting, Wagay, the head of the family—all of whom work in the orchards—said he is considering shifting them to a government school. 

“It’s not just about apples. This is our entire life,” he said.

Abdul Gani Malik from Dachoo, 13 km east of Shopian town, lost all the apples from his three-acre orchard in the hailstorm on 2 June. The hail also damaged the trees themselves. 

“There’s no harvest this year, and even next year looks uncertain,” he said. He said he had spent Rs 1,200,000 on pesticides and orchard maintenance, money he will not be able to recover.

Malik had hoped to harvest 6,500 boxes, worth about Rs 1,000 each, this season. Instead, the fruit now lies rotting on the ground. “I wanted to build a cold storage facility here, but everything is gone,” he said.

He has a Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loan of Rs 3,00,000 and plans to repay it this year. Now, even the interest seems impossible. “How can Rs 2,000 help us when one pesticide spray costs more than that?”

The KCC is a central government scheme designed to ensure that farmers receive sufficient and timely credit to support their agricultural activities.

Documents from the Jammu and Kashmir government-owned Jammu and Kashmir Bank, accessed by Article 14, show that Rs 39 crore had been disbursed in KCC loans from April 2024 to the end of May 2025 in the Shopian district alone.

‘I Can’t Harvest A Single Apple’ 

In Chitragam village, 10 km north-east of Shopian town,  Fayaz Ahmad Shah, 56, lost his entire crop in the same storm. 

“I can’t harvest a single apple,” he said. He was hoping to harvest close to 1200 boxes of apples from his one-acre orchard, and sell them for more than Rs 11 lakh.

Shah said his daughter’s wedding, initially scheduled for October, has now been postponed by two years, as he was depending on the sale of this year's crop to finance it.

He also owes Rs 950,000 for his brother’s medical expenses and has an outstanding KCC loan of Rs 250,000. He had hoped to clear half of this debt with this year’s income. 

Now, he said, he’s barely managing to pay the fees for the private school his four other children attend. “I might have to transfer them to a government school,” he said.

With folded hands, he pleaded for government support. “If they could at least help us recover orchard maintenance costs, we could breathe easier.”

Futures Destroyed

Fayaz Ahmad Bhat, 48, of Wadipora village, approximately 12 km northeast of Shopian town, owns a one-acre orchard where he used to harvest between 600 and 800 apple boxes each season. 

This year, after the hailstorm, he lost nearly 70% of his crop, bringing down the yield to just around 200 boxes, which weren’t market-worthy due to bruising.

This drastic loss in income made it impossible for Bhat to keep sending his son, Muqeed Ahmad Bhat, 21, the Rs 30,000 a month he used to, for BSc studies in Punjab.

“He wanted to continue his studies, but after 2 June, I told him to come back. I can’t afford rent or mess fees anymore,” Bhat said. “We had big hopes for his future, but now even survival feels difficult.”

He urged the government to compensate at least 50% of the crop loss. “If we can revive our orchards, we can at least support our children’s future.”

At 80, Abdul Gani Shah of Wadipora had planned his granddaughter Rabiya Jan’s wedding for August. The wedding had to be postponed after the 2 June hailstorm. 

“We spent Rs 600,000 on preparations,” he said. “But on 2 June, everything collapsed.”

Abdul Gani Shah’s orchard is three acres in size and usually produces over 3,000 boxes of apples. He said, “I lost 80% of my crop, which was worth around Rs 25 lakh. The remaining 20% is only B-grade quality.”

Shah said that without the sale of this year’s crop, he would not be able to cover the remaining expenses for the wedding, for at least another two years.

He said his 29-year-old granddaughter is anxious about the postponement. “The groom’s family wants the wedding this year, but we can’t afford it now,” Shah said. “My granddaughter cries daily, and I don’t know how to help her.” 

Relief, Insurance and Adaptive Measures

Ahmad, the agrometeorology scientist, said that while abiotic stresses, such as hailstorms, can’t be prevented, their impact can be mitigated. Through the Grameen Krishi Mausam Sewa, also known as agrometeorological advisory services, SKUAST-K works with the Indian Meteorological Department to send regular advisories to farmers. 

“We urge farmers to take these seriously and consider adaptive measures like hail nets or more resilient varieties,” he said.

“The 2 June hailstorm affected at least 16 villages. The district, which produces around 2 lakh metric tonnes of apples annually, has lost over 1 lakh metric tonnes in this one event,” said Mohammad Ashraf, president of the Fruit Mandi in Shopian. 

Ashraf said he has appealed to Javed Ahmad Dar, the J&K cabinet minister for agriculture production, and the local administration for insurance and financial relief. 

According to Ashraf, last year, the government proposed a shared insurance model (with the state, center, and farmers sharing costs), but the scheme was yet to be put in place. 

He said that even with the proposal, the high premiums, ranging from Rs 70,000 to Rs 100,000 for cover of Rs 1,000,000 remained unaffordable for farmers. 

“We’ve requested that farmers be allowed to pay premiums through their KCC,” Ashraf said.

He also demanded interest waivers on existing loans and immediate relief from the central government. “Only comprehensive crop insurance backed by both government and banks can protect farmers,” he said.

(Ilhak Tantray, Umar Farooq and Alisa Yousuf are freelance journalists based in Srinagar, focussing on climate, social issues, human rights and culture.)