Himachal's cold deserts flush with veggies

The cold deserts of Himachal Pradesh's Lahaul Valley have been flushing with vegetables, mainly the high-value exotic broccoli and lettuce, say agriculture experts.

Once known for producing high variety, disease-free seed potatoes and bitter taste hops, the remote valley, which has a cultivation season for less than five months from May, has been turning into the state's vegetable bowl, said agriculture officer V.K. Chaudhary.

"Farmers have now shifted from the cultivation of seed potatoes and hops to other vegetables like cauliflower, capsicum, cabbage, broccoli, peas and lettuce, where returns are more than double," he said.

Around 44,240 tonnes of vegetables are expected to be produced in the valley this year, Chaudhary, who is based in Keylong, the district headquarters of Lahaul-Spiti, told IANS.

Last year, production was 31,360 tonnes.

Surveys by the agriculture department show that the area under potato cultivation has declined in 10 years from 2,000 hectare to about 700 hectare.

Potato cultivation started in 1854 when missionary A.W. Hide from Germany established a farm near Keylong.

Likewise, there has been a noticeable decline in the cultivation of hops, a key ingredient in brewing beer, as a major cash crop in the valley owing to dumping of cheaper varieties from China, US and Germany.

Currently, the area under vegetable cultivation in the valley is around 2,200 hectares.

Tara Chand, an exotic vegetable grower in Sissu village, said the cultivation of Chinese broccoli and lettuce have come up in the village in a big way.

"This season, broccoli got remunerative prices as the demand is good in Delhi and Chandigarh. It was sold between Rs.150 and Rs.200 a kg in the village itself," he said.

Bhanu Bodh, a farmer in Pattan village, said: "For the past 10 years, we have been cultivating potatoes. We have stopped its cultivation as the crop was not getting good price."

He said that this year, after a gap of many years, potato was sold at Rs.20 to Rs.22 per kg in wholesale markets mainly due to prevailing exorbitant prices of vegetables. Otherwise farmers were dumping it at throwaway prices.

He said the yield of cauliflower and cabbage were high compared to potato. "A kg of cauliflower is being sold at Rs.20 to Rs.25 per kg."

State agriculture director J.C. Rana said vegetable production in the state has increased to 13.70 lakh tonnes in 2012-13 from 6.5 lakh tonnes in 1990-91.

Agriculture department estimates say that this fiscal the state is heading for a record vegetable production of more than 14 lakh tonnes.

Rana said vegetable production, emerging as one of the mainstays of the state's economy, like horticulture, would cross 16 lakh tonnes in the next two years.

He said the yield of cauliflower in Lahaul Valley was as high as 400 quintals per hectare compared to 200 to 250 quintals elsewhere in the state.

The Lahaul Valley, comprising over two dozen small, scattered villages, remains cut off from the rest of the world for over four months from December onwards owing to heavy snow accumulation in Rohtang Pass (13,050 feet) -- the only road link with Manali in Kullu district.

It re-opens once snow starts thawing after mid-April.

The other cash crops of the valley are apple, pear, apricot, almond and plum.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)