Bumper apple crop for Himachal

Himachal Pradesh is heading for bumper apple crop for the fourth consecutive year as production is expected to touch 5.06 lakh mt this year.

About 3.60 lakh mt apple would be produced in Shimla district alone and 4.55 lakh mt apples would be marketed outside the state, horticulture minister Singhi Ram said.

He said that 50,444 trucks would be required for transportation of apple from the state while the requirement of apple growers from Shimla would be about 36,751 trucks.

The government has fixed Rs 4.25 per kg as procurement price of apple and 100 collection centres have been opened from August 1 while 90 more centres will be opened shortly.

He said that the trucks from neighbouring states for transportation of apple had been exempted from road tax and entry tax from July 22 to October 31, 2005, the minister said.

The state has record production of 5.26 lakh mt apple last year, 4.59 lakh mt in 2004 and 3.45 lakh mt in 2002.

Minister said a control room had been set up at Fagu while a sub-control room was in place at Narkanda to regulate the movement of trucks so that there was no glut in the major terminal markets and the growers were not exploited.

He said that the Himfed, Agro-India Packaging Ltd (AIPL) and HP Marketing and Processing Corporation (HPMC) were supplying packing boxes and trays to the growers at subsidised rates and also handling procurement of apple under market intervention scheme.

He said that all major roads and link roads in apple belt had been opened and there was no obstruction in marketing of apple.

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Bumper harvest

The state is heading for bumper apple crop for the fourth consecutive year as production is expected to touch 5.06 lakh mt this year

50,444 trucks would be required for transportation of apple from the state while the requirement of apple growers from Shimla would be about 36,751 trucks