An apple a day might cost you dearer this season as Himachal Pradesh, a leading apple-producing state, has lost almost 50% of its produce due to weather vagaries.
An apple a day might cost you dearer this season as Himachal Pradesh, a leading apple-producing state, has lost almost 50% of its produce due to weather vagaries.
According to an official estimate, as compared to about 4.5 crore crates last year, the yield would plummet to estimated 2.3 crore crates. The prices are expected to be 25 to 35% more than what apple-growers got last year.”
Himachal Pradesh is one of India’s major apple-producing regions, with over 90% of the produce going to the domestic market.
The twin reasons responsible for the widespread damage of crop have been extended winter followed by fury of hailstorms. Both the factors spelt doom for the crop when it had reached a blooming stage.
Horticulture minister Narender Bragta, who is also a leading apple grower in the state, said the hailstorms in the past two months have badly hit the Kothgarh-Thanedar apple belt in Shimla district, the prominent apple belt in the state.
He said hails have so far damaged crop worth over Rs248 crore. “There are reports of widespread hailstorms in Jubbal, Kotkhai, Rohru, Chopal, Rampur, Sarahan, Theog and Narkanda areas (in Shimla district). However, the crop in Kullu and Mandi districts is comparatively less affected by the hails.”
An official explained, “when the crop in April requires day temperature between 18 degrees and 24 degrees Celsius to enable the fruit to set in normally, the temperature remained below 14 degrees due to frequent rains. And now when the crop is maturing and it requires showers, even the nylon nets failed to protect the crop from pellets.”
He, however, clarified that “sufficient snowfall in the last winter and intermittent showers now have increased the moisture content in the soil that enabled the crop to attain the optimum size.”
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