SOPORE: They have not only survived but thrived in the conflict. And if scientist Sarwar Naqash gets his wish, Kashmiri apples will soon be landing up on the world's finest dining tables.

The fertile Kashmir Valley's Red Delicious apples, Naqash believes, are the export business of the future and key to an economic revival of insurgency-hit Kashmir. "Our apple is the best. It is sweet and juicy," boasts Naqash, who heads the Himalayan region's state-owned horticulture department.

In his quest to boost exports of the fruit, Naqash and his team are braving rebel gunfights, grenade explosions and mine blasts to build 17 markets that will be linked to Indian and international markets through the Internet.

The markets, some of which are nearing completion, will be connected to the Internet via satellite while websites will provide latest prices, availability and also pictures of the fruit.

"All 17 satellite markets will have cold storage facilities. We expect to be receiving export orders directly from abroad," Naqash said. "We will captalize in the international market on the cheap rates and high quality of Kashmiri apples," he added.

Kashmir's orchards produce 1.1 million tons of apples annually, 700,000 tons of which are exported to other parts of India and the rest consumed locally. Only a miniscule percentage makes it overseas.

Naqash's department will be the first to start Internet marketing in Kashmir, ravaged by a 15-year-old insurgency against Indian rule that has left thousands dead and infrastructure in shambles.

He is not willing to make any projections on foreign sales but believes exports will soar as the Internet gives the Kashmir apple international exposure. "The Internet will do wonders to our apple exports," he said.

Indian merchants, who buy apples from Kashmiris, currently export some of the fruit to Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Naqash's deputy G. M. Mir, however, says technology can help Kashmir to compete with China, New Zealand and Australia, the nations he sees as major competitors.

But growers remain sceptical about the export promises. "How can we compete with countries having modern facilities to store apples right from the point they are plucked from trees?" asks Mohammed Yousuf, who owns an orchard near Sopore town, known as apple capital of Kashmir.

"Our apples lose juice before they reach markets for want of cold storage." Right now there are no cold storage facilities in Kashmir nor any refrigerated vans to take the fruit to the markets.

Kashmiri apple merchants over the decades have been transporting their fruit in boxes on open trucks, but it takes the vehicles some five to six days to reach New Delhi and even longer to land at ports such as Mumbai and Kolkata.

Despite the insurgency, apple production has not fallen. Quite the opposite. "The production increases by a minimum of 10 per cent every year," said Mir. Naqash predicts that proceeds from sales of apples are going to shoot from 15 billion rupees last year to 17 billion rupees this year due to an expected bumper harvest.

Sales will soar, he said, although his Internet marketing system has yet to make its entry. Mir says once the 17 satellite apple stations are ready, distributors would begin targetting new markets in South Asia and the Middle East. Kashmiri apples, believed to be sweeter because they are grown on fertile soils in the monsoon shadow of the greater Himalayas, are a hit across India. -AFP