Prolonged dry spell hits growth of citrus fruits

A prolonged dry spell has hit the growth of orange and kinnow crops in the Nurpur and Indora subdivisions of Kangra district.

The belt, also known as “mini-Nagpur” for producing quality citrus fruits like kinnow, orange, malta, galgal and lemon, is yet to receive winter showers. Fruit growers are fearing extensive financial losses if it doesn’t rain in the next fortnight.

Owing to the dry spell, neither the size of the fruit has grown nor has its juice become sweeter. ‘Citrus decline’ disease has been affecting the fruit production for the past a few years. Horticulture experts revealed that the disease has hit overall production and the size of the fruit.

Orange and kinnow are being cultivated on around 3,700 hectares in the lower areas of Kangra district. Progressive fruit growers Sudarshan Sharma, Upinder Singh, Subhash Singh and Babu Ram lamented that dry spell during the winter has been playing havoc with their citrus fruit crops for the past some years.

Owing to the lack of timely rain, juice and sweetness is missing from kinnow. Most of the kinnow growing area in Nurpur is rainfed. As per the Horticulture Department data, of the total fruit growing area of 37,878 hectares in the district, mango is grown on 21,245 hectares, while citrus fruits account for 10,967 hectares. Last year, about 20,000 metric tonnes of citrus fruits were produced. The successive state governments have failed to formulate a concrete policy for the betterment of fruit growers and cultivation of citrus varieties in the area, even as it has a potential to create self-employment opportunities.

According to Mukesh Sharma, a progressive fruit grower in Nurpur, due to the citrus decline disease the fruit production in the region has come down in the past few years causing financial losses to the growers.

Karam Chand, another fruit grower, said due to adverse climatic conditions in the sub-tropical region of the district, the growers were losing interest in fruit cultivation, especially mango, kinnow and orange.