Push towards stone fruits to supplement shrinking apple income in Himachal

In the first week of November, Himachal will host the national-level conclave on stone fruits. The conclave will bring important stakeholders such as policymakers, scientists, commission agents and fruit growers on a common platform and deliberate how the stone fruit economy could be pushed towards realising its full potential in the hill state. Incidentally, the conclave is being held at Thanadhar (Kotgarh), the place where apple cultivation was started in the state over a century back by Satyanand Stokes.

It’s not that stone fruits are new to the area. People have been cultivating stone fruits like plum, apricot, cherry and peach since long. However, with apple cultivation becoming profitable over time, most people switched to apple cultivation wherever they could. Currently, apple dominates the fruit basket of the state, constituting around 80 per cent of the total fruits produced in the state.

“Stone fruits are mostly still grown with outdated planting material and unscientific methods. At the conclave, issues like modern rootstocks, new and better cultivars and post-harvest facilities will be discussed to take stone fruits to a different level,” said Deepak Singha, president of the Stone Fruit Growers’ Association.

The push to diversify into stone fruit from the single-fruit economy lays bare the challenges the apple economy has been facing over the last many years. Challenges like climate change, rising input costs, rampant diseases have shrunk the profit margins of apple growers. “Apple is no longer as profitable as it used to be. Most growers are struggling to survive on returns from the single crop. Growers could look at stone fruits as a good option to supplement their apple income,” said Singha. “Most stone fruits are harvested from mid-April to end of June, and apple harvesting begins in July. If the apple growers diversify into stone fruits, they will have some income in these three months as well,” said Singha.

At many places like the Kotgarh region, where apple is cultivated for over 100 years, apple re-plantation has become quite challenging. The sapling doesn’t grow as vigorously as in the past and the diseases have become almost uncontrollable. “Shifting to stone fruits is necessary in such orchards. One must, though, keep in mind the climatic condition and the altitude of the place, and choose the stone fruit accordingly,” said Prakash Thakur, former vice-chairman of Himachal Pradesh Horticultural Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation (HPMC).

Pointing out the advantages stone fruits have over apple, Singha says stone fruits could be grown at more wide-ranging altitudes than apple. “The climate change is gradually pushing apple cultivation to higher elevations. Stone fruits could be grown at various altitudes, from low to quite high elevations,” he said. Besides, the orchardists who have already diversified into stone fruits say the input costs are insignificant compared to apple, and the stone fruit fetches better prices.

Despite these advantages, the biggest challenge in growers diversifying into stone fruits is the lack of post-harvest infrastructure at the moment. “Apple has big advantage over stone fruits in term of shelf life. Stone fruits are perishable, and needs good post-harvest infrastructure to really offer a viable alternative to the horticulturalists. It’s here the government will need to step in,” said Thakur.