Apple seeds of discord: Farmers must not be trapped in a trade war
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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Apple production supports about 900,000 households in India. Most are apple growers in Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand with modest incomes.
Recently, several farmers from these regions held a protest against the government, demanding remunerative prices for their produce, much like other farmers protesting on the state borders of New Delhi. The case of apple farmers is peculiar. Apple yields in India are low and the country lacks on-orchard cold storage facilities.
They bear costly inputs, given how expensive fertilizers and pesticides have become, and face the constant threat of volatile prices even as climate change adds to their vulnerability. Natural calamities such as droughts, floods, hail-storms and rising temperatures in the Himalayas complicate their prospects. Wildlife risks, particularly monkeys destroying crops, abound as well.
Meanwhile, corporate presence in the apple market has risen. Trade policies pose their own challenges. Today, Indian apple producers are caught in a web of geopolitical tensions and inconsistent policies that often prioritize short-term diplomatic objectives over the stability of their livelihoods.
India’s trade skirmishes with the US, in particular, demonstrates how apple growers are made to bear the burden of policy instability. In March 2018, the US administration under Donald Trump imposed import tariffs on steel (25%) and aluminium (10%) from most countries, including India. In 2019, India retaliated by raising customs duty on apples imported from the US by 20 percentage points, in addition to an existing 50% duty (bound tariff rate that India may impose under World Trade Organization or WTO rules).
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