Apple growers in India’s Himachal Pradesh region are hoping for rain or snow, which have been lower than usual this winter meaning delays in planting and fertilising orchards.
Himachal Pradesh is India’s premier apple-growing area. Winter is the planting season for new trees, reported My Himachal.
“No snow means a bleak year ahead for temperate fruits as trees need to undergo a minimum number of chilling hours and soil moisture is a must for fertilisers to dissolve and provide essential nutrients for the trees to bear fruit,” said Lekh Raj Chauhan, president of the Himachal Pradesh Apple fruit growers association.
“Much of the winter is over and only isolated valleys have received some rains so far,” said district horticulture officer Raj Gopal Sud.
“We are sky gazing and hoping for it rain and snow but if it does not do so over the next fortnight, it could impact temperate fruit productivity down the year,” he said.
The low rain and snowfall comes after a year of too much rain during the harvest period, which affected fruit quality.
New measures are being considered to increase productivity, including planting new apple varieties. Farm scientists and the state horticulture department have imported 24,000 apple saplings and will transfer them to growers, New Himachal reported.
