Amid India-Pak tension, apple growers demand ban on imports from Turkey

Apple growers from India are planning to approach Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal with a request to stop imports of apples from Turkiye, which was seen as complicit with Pakistan during the recent border conflict.

 

India annually imports around 300,000–500,000 tonnes of apples from nearly 40 countries across the globe, and Turkiye is one of them.

 

In 2023–24, India imported around 160,000 tonnes of apples from Turkiye — the highest-ever quantity, according to trade sources.

 

“Turkiye’s role in the recent India-Pakistan conflict has been inimical to India, which is why we have decided to request the government to stop all horticultural imports from that country,” Harish Chauhan, convenor of the Hill State Horticulture Forum and Himachal Pradesh Sanyukt Kisan Manch, told Business Standard.

 

The Horticulture Forum is a joint platform for apple growers from Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), and Uttarakhand.

 

He said imports of other horticultural crops from Turkiye — such as cherries and other fruit — should also be banned with immediate effect.

 

India imported record quantities of apples in 2023–24, as the domestic crop in both Himachal Pradesh and J&K was damaged due to untimely rains, floods, and pest attacks.

 

The Kashmir Valley, along with Himachal Pradesh, contributes more than 80 per cent of the total consumption of around 2.4–2.5 million tonnes of apples in India. India is the world’s fifth-largest apple grower.

 

Himachal Pradesh usually produces around 35–45 million boxes of apples every year (one box weighs 24–28 kilograms, depending on apple size). In India, apple plants begin flowering around April, and most trees start bearing fruit in 100–110 days.