When Dr N H Ravindranath, a senior scientist from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, addressed Himachal Pradesh’s top bureaucrats and policy makers here a couple of years ago, his warnings about the adverse impact of climate change in the hills, especially the farming sectors, had left many stunned. Himachal is witnessing his predictions coming almost true at least for its apple crop — an economy of Rs 2,200 crore, almost 87 per cent of the state’s total fruit production.

Growers question efficacy of anti-hail guns. Shimla: The boom of the anti-hail guns has triggered off political reverberations in the apple belt as the very first spell of hailstorm caused extensive damage to the crop in the Jubbal-Kotkhai area, with the Opposition Congress again questioning the efficacy of the technology.

Known as the “apple state” of the country for the past five decades, Himachal has undergone a silent transformation with “vegetables” overtaking the premium fruit as the main cash crop. While the production of apple has been fluctuating, the outturn of vegetables has been constantly on the increase and accordingly its contribution to the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has been improving. The apple production plunged from a record 10.27 lakh tonne in 2010-11 to 2.72 lakh tonne in 2011-12 due to failure of crop.

Before dawn every day he joins hundreds of wholesale traders at Delhi's Azadpur Mandi, a sprawling, chaotic market where trucks blare Bollywood music, porters haul huge brown sacks of fruit and vegetables and hawkers ply tea and cigarettes.

His own trade is in rosy red apples, laced with calcium carbide.

Bhim says he's been adding chemicals to his apples for years to artificially ripen them after a long journey from the Himalayan foothills, despite being told that it causes cancer.

A cultivable mycorrhiza-like fungus discovered by scientists of Amity University may prove to be a boon for vegetable growers of Himachal Pradesh as it has tremendously increased the crop growth and productivity. The scientists found that the fungus named Piriformospora Indica (PFSI) increased both the growth and productivity of cauliflower, capsicum and tomato vegetable crops in hill areas of the state.

Acting on the directives of the Centre, States such as Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana are ready with their annual plans to boost horticulture production.

Besides these States, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa have also drawn the annual action plan for 2012-13 horticulture year, sources in the Agriculture Ministry said.

The Centre has asked the States to ensure that Annual Action Plans for the horticulture year are cleared by April 15, they added.

SHIMLA: With apple production facing a decline due to global warming, vegetable cultivation is gaining popularity among farmers in Himachal Pradesh. In 1951-52, the state had vegetable production area of 3,000 hectares with annual production of 25,000 tonne, which has now increased to 65,000 hectares with annual production of 1,269 thousand tonne during 2010-2011.

Shimla: Fruit growers are a happy lot as the apple belt in the Shimla region recorded the heaviest snowfall in January in the past six years, raising hopes of a good crop. However, power generation in the state plunged to the lowest level as the discharge in rivers and streams declined sharply due to extreme cold conditions. The Shimla region had not received much snow over the past two days during the current spell as the focus of the western disturbance remained more towards the Kangra, Chamba and Kullu areas.

Shimla: The Himachal Seb Utpadak Sangh has urged the government to take immediate steps to protect the interests of apple growers who will be exposed to international competition with the abolition of 52 per cent import and custom duty on apple from 2012-13 under the WTO agreement. Secretary of the sangh Sanjay Chauhan said the growers of the state were in no position to compete with the apple produced in the USA, New Zealand, Australia, China and other developed countries, where agriculture and horticulture was highly subsidised and productivity very high.