Crunch time for Himalayan apples

The apple is set to get its bite back. Suffering from the twin effect of plummeting yields and excellent imports, the apple has found a resc...

The apple is set to get its bite back. Suffering from the twin effect of plummeting yields and excellent imports, the apple has found a rescuer in the Centre’s Apple Production Improvement Project in Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal.

To be implemented over 18 months in association with the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the $306,000 project will facilitate establishment of demonstration plots for disseminating state-of-the-art technology for apple cultivation, post harvest management and marketing. To begin with, better planting material will be provided to farmers to improve quality as well as productivity.

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To steer the project, one international consultant and five national consultants will begin work immediately. Demonstrations will take place both on the farmers’ fields as well as at the nodal centre. Although the project formally covers Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, apple-growing states all over the country are expected to benefit.

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The project was formally launched with a two-day workshop in Shimla on Tuesday. Inaugurating the workshop, Agriculture Secretary Radha Singh called upon the state governments to provide all logistic support to the project. Present on the occasion were Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary Shamsher Singh Kanwar, FAO representative in India Daniel Gustafson, national and international experts and local farmers.

Incidentally, this is the Centre’s second attempt at resuscitating the apple industry. A few years ago, the government had established an Agri-Export Zone — covering Shimla, Siramour, Kullu, Mandi, Chamba and Kinnaur — with a five-year outlay of Rs 570.70 million and the aim of producing apples for export to the Middle-East and South-East Asian countries. However, the project did not have the desired impact.

While Jammu and Kashmir produces 60 per cent of Indian apples, Himachal Pradesh has the largest area under production: 42 per cent of the total area and about 90 per cent of the total horticulture production. It contributes about 33 per cent of the total production of apples in the country. However, in the absence of appropriate technologies, productivity has exhibited a declining trend.

In Uttaranchal, productivity of fruits at 2.8 tonnes per hectare is among the lowest in the country. About 32 per cent of the area under fruits in the states grows apples.