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Journalism of Courage
After five years of failed crops, Himachal Pradesh’s apple farmers are expecting a bumper crop. Weather conditions, which, unlike in the plains, are totally unpredictable in the hills, have so far been favouring the state’s most famous crop. That’s good news. However, the apple growers are worried about the weather and the government’s ability to handle the anticipated heavy crop.
In fact, the BJP government in the state faces a tough task: to arrange packing material, trucks and keep the roads open to avoid an apple glut. Experience shows the apprehensions of the growers are not entirely misplaced. A shortage of cartons, apple boxes, trucks, bad roads and unregulated movement of the crop have deprived them of good returns several times. And finally, if the weather becomes hostile during the peak harvest days, the entire crop vanishes within hours.
Coming as it does after five years, the farmers are not prepared to take a chance on the bumper harvest. Pressure is mounting on the Government to gear up itsmachinery to set marketing infrastructure in place.
"We are well set to meet the challenge and I am personally monitoring the situation day and night," says Minister for Horticulture Narinder Bragta, himself a leading orchardist. He says several rounds of meetings have already been held at various levels and growers have been taken into confidence about the government’s plans to streamline things.
Field studies done by the State Horticulture Department to assess crop prospects this season reveal that Himachal Pradesh could produce more than two crore boxes of apple. The dry spell, which hit fruit-bearing plants early this month, led to premature dropping of the fruit but the scientists are optimistic about good fruit-setting, conducive weather and better size-formation. Last year, intermittent weather led to an outbreak of diseases which resulted in the premature fall of leaves. The produce dipped to 1.10 crore boxes.
However, the immediate worry for growers is the availability of cartons. Ever sincethe State Government banned the felling of trees and introduced cardboard cartons as alternative packaging material, the demand has multiplied. The main source of supply still remains the Himachal Pradesh Agro-Packaging India Limited (APIL), a public sector undertaking, which has a cardboard manufacturing unit at Gumma in Shimla district.
The unit has a capacity to produce 65 lakh cartons a year. Unfortunately, production at APIL started in May last year as against the March schedule. And that too after the state Government provided it with Rs 2.50 crore. Even if the unit runs round the clock now, the target is impossible to meet. "Till now we have manufactured 7.50 lakh cartons," says P C Kapoor, APIL’s managing director. He blames the shortage on the teething troubles like short supply of electricity and pending liabilities of the unit towards suppliers of raw material.
Though government agencies estimate that the APIL will be ale to provide nearly 20 lakh to 25 lakh cartons and an equal number will besupplied by private manufacturers, reports indicate that there will still be a shortage of nearly nearly 80 lakh to 90 lakh cartons.
The apple growers allege that seeing the prospects of a bumper crop, private manufacturers have already hiked the prices for boxes from Rs 31 to Rs 36. However, Bragta says he "will ensure that growers get adequate number of boxes".
Ironically, a bumper crop brings with it a host of other problems. Transportation in the hills has always been a major headache. And a good crop means a proportional increase in the demand for trucks. Deputy Commissioner Shimla Manisha Shridhar says meetings have already been held with truck operators in the state and outside and that they are willing to provide as many trucks as required. The growers, however, say that truck operators demand higher rates and refuse to lift boxes from link roads.
Though, the State Government has continued the policy of giving a support price for "processable" grade of apple, main returns for the growers comefrom the markets. Unless the fruit is marketed fast — before either the glut or crash in prices — the entire exercise becomes futile. "A regulated supply of apple in New Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Bangalore markets is needed to stabilise the price," says Rajpal Chauhan, spokesperson of the Himachal Pradesh Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association.
The role of the Himachal Pradesh Fruit Marketing and Processing Corporation (HPMC) also assumes much significance this season. The entire produce, which HPMC procures from growers under the support price scheme, goes to its two processing plants. For years, the Government paid little attention to the HPMC and used the support price scheme for "appeasing" the apple lobby. There were years when hundreds of tonnes of apple, which were not even processable, were procured and then dumped.
Managing Director Avay Shukla admits that handling the crop this time is going to be a big challenge. "Since a large stock of apple juice concentrate is still lying in ourstorage, HPMC is trying to find ways for its disposal before the procurement season starts. Some deals had already been clinched but we still need additional storage," he says.
The State Government and the HPMC are also exploring the possibilities of exporting apple to countries like New Zealand, the UK, Japan and Germany. Some wholesale traders of Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore have also visited apple orchards of Shimla and Kullu to purchase the fruit from the orchards.
But the apple growers remain tense — as there are days to go before they can pluck the fruits. A sudden change in weather, shortage of cartons… it doesn’t take much to spoil their expectations.
