Himachal Pradesh is expecting a good apple crop this year with exports of over 30,000,000 standard apples to a range of markets in the country, and 31,758 metric tonnes of apples were obtained under the Market Intervention Scheme.
The production is likely to hit 600,000 tonne at the end of the marketing season with apples from tribal areas and higher hills to appear in the market by the first week of November.
The government has opened 269 collection centres which have been assigned as procurement agencies under the MIS, HPMC and HIMFED.
The states highest apple production was in 2010-2011 at 8.93 tonnes, whilst the lowest was 49,130 tonnes in 1999-2000.
The area under apple cultivation has also increased from 90347 hectares in 2000-2001 to 100,400 in 2011-2012, however this area is likely to be reduced from 2016 as apple orchards on encroach forest land are being cleared.
