The Indian government is concerned by the declining trends in the country's apple production; to counteract this, new proposals and measures, such as setting up more cold storage facilities and improving existing stores in the hill states of Jammu, Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, have been suggested.
Apple growers in Kashmir, which has only a few Controlled Atmosphere units despite its huge apple production, say such initiatives are needed because the valley apples are sold in bulk immediately after the harvest and the fruit is not preserved for sale round the year.
A large number of apple farmers in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh have already realised the importance of setting up these facilities. Some cold storages have already been built in these states, but the facilities are not enough to cater to the huge quantity of the fruit produced.
As such, large amounts of apple either go to waste or are sold at cheaper rates because the fruit has a short shelf life. Lack of storage facilities has threatened horticulture farmers, particularly in Kashmir which annually send fruits worth more than $680 million -- a major chunk being apples -- to different markets in India.
Despite this, officials said, the area of apple cultivation had increased in the past few years. According to official data, the area under cultivation for apples in Jammu and Kashmir jumped from 141.7 hectares in 2011-12 to 157.28 hectares in 2012-13. In Himachal Pradesh, the increase was from 101.5 hectares in 2010-11, to 103.6 hectares in 2011-12 and to 106.23 hectares in 2012-13.
But production has declined. One of the main reasons, the officials said, is that traditional fertile apple fields have given way to unplanned urbanisation and conversion into residential areas. To make up for the land loss paddy fields are now being converted into apple orchards.
The ministry is also trying to figure out the other factors that may have also led to the decline in production.
"We need to know why production quantity is inversely proportional to increase in cultivation areas," an official said, adding reports from all three states say that the production has nosedived despite a substantial increase in the area under apple cultivation.
Apple production in the country is limited to Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh.
Overall, the national domestic production also declined to about 1.8 million tonnes in 2014-15 from about 2.5 million tonnes in the previous year.
