Climate change has caused a gradual increase in temperature in Himachal Pradesh's apple belt in recent years. The state called on farmers to shift to higher lands, but this was met with little success. However, now a programme has been announced for the development of varieties which require less chill hours and can survive in low altitude areas.
In the recent state budget, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh announced the programme and allocated Rs 20 million for importing good quality root-stocks and pollinates. Around 500 acres will be brought under the new and improved varieties in the next few years. The state had earlier partnered New Zealand in a World Bank-funded project to boost production by importing rootstock from the island country.
According to the state’s economic survey, apple constitutes about 49 per cent of the area under fruit crops and about 85 per cent of all fruit production. It is estimated that 42 per cent of all orchards in the state are over 50 years old and need rejuvenation. The apple economy is estimated to be around Rs 36 billion and the average production is seven to eight tonnes a hectare. In Australia, New Zealand, America and European countries, it is 60 to 70 tonnes a hectare.
The state’s highest apple production was 893,000 tonnes in 2010-11. Production till December of 2015-16 was 755,000 tonnes.
“We are working on varietal diversification of crops. Over the years we have developed 17 varieties of apple, by importing rootstock from different countries and making them adaptable to the local climate. The same crop can be planted even at 3,000 feet or 11,000 feet but the timings of flowering are different,” said Vijay Singh Thakur, vice-chancellor of the Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan. The university has developed varieties where the maturity period of the crop is 80 days.
(1 Indian Rupee=0.015 USD)
Source: business-standard.com
