- विज्ञापन -
Shimla: Drought is hitting the apple crop in the state. In such a situation, the production of 3.15 crore apple boxes was estimated during the process of flowering in apples and fruit formation from flowers.
Production has been affected due to drought and less-than-normal rainfall in April and May. Now, apple production is estimated to be less than 2.40 crore boxes.
Production has been affected for the second consecutive year due to the indifference of the weather. In Himachal Pradesh, about 1.90 crore boxes were produced in the year 2023, while 52 thousand metric tons of C-grade apples were purchased under the Mandi Mediation Scheme. Last year, setting could not be done in the state due to less rainfall before the apple season and the continuation of rain after the summer. In such a situation, production was affected. This time there was less snowfall, but now the continuous drought is damaging the apple crop. There is a lot of rain due to the drought. Apple production is continuously declining in the state. The low rainfall was compensated in February; drought again occurred in April and May; and in January, there was 86 per cent less rainfall than normal. This affected the chilling hours of apples.
