Hailstorm, rain in Garwhal region hit apple growers hard

DEHRADUN: The ‘untimely’ hailstorm and rain that lashed several parts of Garhwal in the last two days have devastated the apple growers in the region, pushing them at the brink of loss worth crores of rupees.
Among the areas that are worse hit include Naugaon, Mori, Bhattia and Purola —which is considered to be the ‘fruit bowl’ of the Uttarakhand.
A Naugaon-based farmer, Vijendera Rawat, said, “I have 400 trees orchid.Due to hailstorm and rain, more than 50% of the apple crop has been destroyed. If this (referring to rains and hailstorm) continues, then entire fruit belt of the region would suffer huge losses this season.”
For fruit growers, April and May are very important. “During this time, the trees generate flowers which helps to yield the fruit. However, rains and bouts of hailstorm, that has been happening from Sunday, have caused the flowers to drop off from the trees and those remained have started developing spots,” said Rawat.
Another apple grower, Jagmohan Chand, said, “Unlike the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, apple farmers here do not have anti-hailstorm guns to handle the situation. The hailstorms this year have wreaked havoc on the crops. The total produce is likely to drop by at least 50%.”
On an average, an apple grower sells a box of 20 kg at the price between Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000 depending on the quality.
“This year, a big chunk of the fruit has gone wasted. So, it all depends on the quality of fruit that remains on trees till July and August. And the price of apple box is likely to reduce by 50%,” said Chand, who owns an apple orchid in Naugaon.
Meanwhile, the state agriculture secretary, Meenakshi R Sundram, said the affected growers would be provided relief.
“Apple crop is covered under the insurance scheme. The apple growers will get relief as per the SDRF norms.”
However, growers say that the insurance only covers apple orchards and not other fruit crops like plum and apricot.
“The total damages would run into crores of rupees for the entire region here, which has over 3,000 farmers growing apple. The insurance covers only the apple orchards, not other crops like plum, pear, apricot and peaches,” said Dalbir Negi, an apple grower in Mori village.