Scholar from militancy-affected Shopian sells apples online

In a novel idea, a PhD scholar from militancy affected Shopian district of south Kashmir has started to sell Kashmiri apples across the world by setting up a supply chain.

Adnan Ali, who holds a masters degree in business administration and is currently pursuing a PhD from Lovely Professional University, says the idea to start selling apples online came to him when he was pursuing engineering degree in Pune.

He is currently selling around 15 varieties of apples and on average and is receiving around 50 orders in a day through dukaan.com, popshop and WhatsApp.

Ali, a resident of Pinjoora village of Shopian, which produces some of the best apples in Kashmir, says he wasn’t happy with the existing system of apple business in the Valley. “The rates are decided by the trader and not growers. I wanted to bridge the gap between the grower and the buyer,” he said.

Though he is in the initial stage of the new business, Ali said, he is getting a lot of appreciation and orders for delivery of apples. Despite the Covid-19 lockdown, he has sold thousands of apple packs both online and offline with a turnover of around Rs six lakh.

And Ali is selling packs of just six apples instead of full boxes of 15-18 kg. “So far the feedback is positive. I also use biodegradable packs coming from Gujarat, which has been a plus point,” he said.

In recent years Ali has also participated in all fruit exhibitions that were conducted across the country by the Horticulture Department, Kashmir. He was recently awarded by J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha for an innovative idea and his product was officially launched by the Principal Secretary, Horticulture Department.

“I am working on a few more projects so that our apples can reach every corner of the world. Apples which we usually leave to rot or give it to local vendors due to scab and some other issues can be converted into jam, dry apple, jelly, pulp and apple powder so that even a little piece of apple won't get wasted,” he added.