Himachal Pradesh eyes another World Bank project to improve apple yield

Shimla, June 16

The state government will seek another World Bank-aided project on the lines of Horticulture Development Project (HDP) which is ending this month. The around Rs 1,000 project was approved in 2016 for temperate fruits, mainly apple and the stone fruits.

“We are looking at HDP 2.0. We are looking at a budget of around Rs 1,000 crore for this project too,” said C Paulrasu, Secretary Horticulture. “The major focus of this project will be on leveraging technology for enhancing production and productivity of the fruits. Among other things, the focus will also be on organic farming and water-efficient farming,” said Paulrasu, adding that the project would also focus on facilitating the transition from the traditional apple planation to high density plantation.

Focus on water-efficient farming

The major focus of this project will be on leveraging technology for enhancing production and productivity of fruits. Among other things, the focus will also be on organic farming and water-efficient farming. —C Paulrasu, Secretary Horticulture

The transition from the traditional to high density planation is not happening at the desired pace. “We will leverage technology to ensure successful high density planation in the orchards where traditional apple plants have been grown for several decades,” he said.

Under the Horticulture Development Project, the focus was mainly in building mandis, enhancing cold storage facilities and importing quality planting material for the horticulturalists.

“We spend around Rs 600-700 crore on building mandis. Besides, we have built seven-eight cold storage facilities. Also, a state-of-the-art processing plant has come up at Parala, which will be of great benefit to the growers,” said Paulrasu.

The other major component of the project was the import of quality planting material from abroad.

While the HDP will end of June 30, there’s still some amount left unused in the project. “Around Rs 50 crore is left in the project. We have sought a three month extension from the World Bank to use the left-over amount,” said Paulrasu.