Adani apple rates disappoint Himachal growers amid output slump

Apple growers in Himachal Pradesh are disappointed with the opening prices offered by Adani Agri Fresh Limited and other Controlled Atmosphere (CA) store operators this season, even though the prices announced are around 25-33 per cent higher than last year.

Adani Agri Fresh Limited, the largest private player in apple procurement in Himachal Pradesh, has offered Rs 108 per kg for large, medium and small-sized apples, and Rs 60 per kg for Pittu, the lowest grade. The prices offered by other private CA store operators are more or less the same.

The growers are not happy with the prices due to a large slump in production this year compared with last year.

Himachal produced 3.49 crore apple boxes last year, but the Department of Horticulture estimates production to be around 2 crore boxes this year. The growers feel it could be even lower, at around 1.5 crore boxes.

“Why does the principle of demand and supply go out of the window when growers stand to benefit from it? Why does it always benefit the market forces? To say the truth, this principle simply doesn’t apply to any agricultural produce,” said Prakash Thakur, an apple grower and former vice-chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Horticulture Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation (HPMC).

Lokinder Bisht, an apple grower from Rohru, points out that much of the produce this time is Pittu or slightly higher grade.

“The CA store operators are offering just around Rs 60 per kg for Pittu. Much of the produce this time will be Pittu and of slightly higher grade. Despite such low production, this price is not justified,” he said, adding that Pittu is fetching a much higher price in the open market at the moment.

Harish Chauhan, convener of the Sanyukt Kisan Manch, explains why farmers get worried when private players open rates lower than those prevailing in the market.

“The rates announced by private players influence the prevailing rates in the market. Generally, the lower rates tend to pull down the market,” said Chauhan.

Calling this an understanding between the market forces, Chauhan said that, like CA operators, many commission agents and loaders store apples harvested after August.

“They can earn a good profit later only if apples for storage are bought at a lower price. The lower the procurement price, the higher is their profit,” said Chauhan.

It may be recalled that an attempt was made during the previous BJP government to put in place some mechanism for private CA operators to fix the rates.

“An attempt was made to form a committee having members from the government and the apple growers’ community to regulate the price-fixing process, but it did not work out,” said Bisht.