Fungal disease hits bumper apple crop in Himachal

Already battling with a host of problems, the heavy apple crop of Himachal Pradesh is now grappling with a new one. A deadly fungal disease, Marssonina is causing huge losses to farmers across the hill state.

Excessive rains have led to the disease, which causes premature shedding of leaves in the fruit-bearing trees, resulting in dark patches on the fruit, which then fetches poor prices. Once the leaves fall, the fruit also drops to the ground before it is harvested.

The dropped and damaged fruit cannot be packed in boxes and can only be packed in gunny bags for processing, which fetches very low prices, say farmers.

The most affected are orchards located in moisture-prone areas, from where the epidemic is fast spreading to other orchards.

Since harvesting is already on, it is too late to spray fungicides to control the disease.

“A lot of the fruit in my orchard has fallen to the ground.The remaining fruit that I picked has dark blotches. It is taking a lot of time and labour to clean and make it marketable,” said Ram Dass, a farmer.

Farmers in the state are already facing transportation problems like shortage of trucks, labour and packaging material, along with poor road conditions.

Apple is the main cash crop of the state. Himachal is set to produce a record harvest this time, which began in July and will end in mid-October.

According to government sources, 26.8 million boxes have already been sent out of the state. Each box weighs between 22 kg and 26 kg.

Besides, the government under the market intervention scheme has already procured 35,000 tonnes of fruit at various collection centres.