Srinagar, May 20 -- 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.

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

But pests keep c...