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Staring at losses, Himachal stone fruit growers seek minimum import price on foreign variants
Import of stone fruits from countries Afghanistan and Iran have adversely hit the sales for Himachal’s produce
The import from Afghanistan has hit Himachal Pradesh’s stone-fruit market adversely across the country. Growers have incurred huge losses, with some even failing to recover their input costs.
In this backdrop, fruit growers have demanded the fixing of a minimum price for the import of stone fruits like apples and developing a hydro cooling system for their storage.
Unfavourable weather conditions in the February-March period had resulted in the crop for nearly all stone fruits in the state to drop to nearly half of last year’s produce. The farmers were expecting a good price due to low yield, but the duty-free import from foreign countries is causing them huge losses.
After the price drop, middlemen at the New Delhi market advised local growers not to send their apricot produce. The traders have imported apricot in bulk from Afghanistan. The fruit is being brought to the country’s markets without an import duty under the South Asian Free Trade Area.
Himcahal’s apricot is being sold between ₹60 to ₹70 for a near-800-gm box at the New Delhi market in comparison to premium quality apricot from Afghanistan which is being sold for ₹200 to ₹300 per box.
Cherry has also witnessed a sharp drop in prices. At the beginning of the season, Himachal’s cherry was being sold at ₹1,500 to ₹2,000 per box. Over the last week, however, its rates have come down to ₹200 to ₹250 per box, with traders also importing cherries from Iran.
The rates of plums have similarly come down to ₹60 to ₹100 per box.
Lamenting the losses, the state’s stone-fruit producers are demanding the Center and the state government to fix a minimum price for imports of these fruits.
Flagging the concerns, Plum Growers Association president Deepak Singha said the state’s crop is not being sold amid falling rates, adding, “The growers are also worried due to the steep fall in the prices of cherry.”
“Central and state governments should fix the minimum import price of stone fruits akin to the way it was done for apples so that growers get a reasonable price for their produce,” he said.
Singha also demanded to set up a hydro-cooling system for stone fruit on the lines of the storage space for apples. “With this, the growers will be able to store their crops in case of a fall in the market price and they will be assured of good prices,” he said.
