Burning of orchard waste goes unabated in apple-growing areas in Himachal

Subhash Rajta

Shimla, December 14

The burning of apple orchard waste causes environmental and health issues in apple belts just like stubble-burning does in Punjab and Haryana. Despite best efforts of some apple growers and the administration to curb the practice, the nuisance continues at various places in apple-growing areas.

Major reason for erratic snowfall

The impact of this practice is quite serious now. It’s a major reason for the reduced and erratic snowfall over the years. –Sanjeev Thakur, President, Chawara apple valley society

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“The burning of orchard waste post harvesting is causing pollution and people are falling sick. We had appealed to the growers to refrain from burning twigs and leaves, but to no avail. Now, we have asked panchayat pradhans to identify the growers burning their waste. Once identified, action will be taken against such growers as per law,” said Rohru SDM Sunny Sharma.

While accepting that this post-harvest farm practice was causing harm to the environment and health of the people, besides increasing the risk of forest fires, the growers feel that the attempt to scare growers with penal action would not help curb the practice.

“Burning is cheap and easy method for the growers to dispose of the orchard waste. For a long-term solution, the growers should be encouraged for composting the waste into manure,” said Harish Chauhan, an orchardist from Rohru.

For composting, the twigs need to be shredded to smaller pieces with the help of a wood chipper. “The government should offer substantial subsidy on wood chippers to help the growers move towards composting,” he said.

“The impact of this practice is quite serious now. It’s a major reason for the reduced and erratic snowfall over the years. There used to be 2-3 feet snowfall in my village more than a decade ago. Now, the snowfall is scanty,” said Sanjeev Thakur, president of the Chawara Apple Valley Society in Rohru.

“Unfortunately, most growers are still continuing this hazardous practice. Our society has held several awareness camps but most people do not bother,” he added.

Lokinder Bisht, an orchardist from Rohru, feels the growers have become quite aware about the issue over the last few years and are looking at alternate ways to dispose of the waste. “Mostly, growers light-up small fires to keep themselves warm during the post-harvest management of their orchards as it starts getting cold at higher altitudes. Most of the times, these fires are mistaken as burning of the orchard waste,” he said.

Practice started in 1980s

• The practice of burning the orchard waste started in 1980s, when scab, a dangerous fungal disease, appeared for the first time in the state
• Experts then advised the growers to burn all waste to prevent the disease from coming back the following year
• At that time, the burning did not have much impact on environment as the number of orchards was much less compared to the current time