Record HP apple crop stuns farmers

This year’s apple production has broken all previous records in Himachal Pradesh’s history, but most farmers are unhappy despite the bountiful crop as the harvest has been long and the returns poor.

The hill state has produced a whopping 42,000,000 boxes. Besides another 110,000 tonnes of apple has been procured by the state government in gunny bags,which is also a record, say government officials.

The production of apple boxes is almost 40 per cent more than the previous highest output in 2007.

The fruit procured by the state government under the market intervention scheme (MIS) is nearly two and a half times more than the previous highest.

“Even though my yield was more than twice as compared to last year,the returns have still been less than half of last year,” says Rajeev Chauhan, chairman of the Himalayan apple growers society.

A cross section of farmers told Business Standard that returns have been low this time due to several factors including excessive monsoon which affected the fruit quality and also triggered diseases in orchards.

They also cited losses due to bad roads, fleecing by truck operators who often charged twice the government approved rates.

Labour costs shot up by 30 to 50 per cent this harvest. Packing material fell short and farmers had to pay more and still wait longer.

“After all these delays when the fruit finally reached the markets across India the prices often tumbled,” said another farmer.