Heavy rains likely to halve apple production in HP, J&K
Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, likely slashing production in the country's top two apple-growing states at least by half this season, farmers said. «The growers are not being able to visit the fields due to the rains,» said Ravinder Chauhan, president of Apple Growers Association of India.
«Our estimate is that the production of apples will be halved this year due to the rains. The actual loss can be gauged once the rain stops and the growers can visit the apple orchards to take stock of the situation.» Apple growers from the Kashmir valley, which accounts for around 75% of the 2.1-2.9 million tonnes of apples produced in the country a year, said their production this season will be less than half of the year-ago season due to torrential rains.
Apple production in Himachal Pradesh, too, is expected to be halved in the current season to 15 million boxes of 22 kg each due to the damages caused by heavy downpour. Traders said the domestic market will have to be fed by apples from Turkey, the prices of which have already shot up to ₹200 per kg from ₹125 per kg in the last 10 days as landslides and flash floods across the northwestern region halted apple supplies from Kashmir and Himachal.
«The market now has only apples from Turkey,» said Sanjay Pansare, director (fruit) at Mumbai Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC). «More rains mean more miseries for apple growers,» said Rashid Ratar, an apple grower from Sopore in Baramulla district of Jammu & Kashmir.
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