Srinagar, July 18 -- By Sehreena Maqbool

Generations of fruit growers in Kashmir watched their harvests head toward wholesale markets in Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh, where prices often rose and fell with supply, weather and timing.

Early this July, a different journey began.

Boxes of premium Areko cherries and Scentrose plums left orchards in South Kashmir, boarded a flight on July 4 and landed on supermarket shelves in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, placing the valley's fruit before some of the world's most demanding buyers.

The consignment, coordinated by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, or APEDA, marked the first formal export of these two fruit varieties to Lulu Hypermarket stores in the United Ara...