Heavy snow and rains for the third consecutive day in Himachal Pradesh are likely to result in a bumper apple output this year, horticulture experts and apple growers from Himachal Pradesh said.
Heavy snowfall has been witnessed at Kharapatthar and Narkanda peaks, the Shimla-Rohru Road and the old Hindustan-Tibet Road leading to Kinnaur Kufri near Shimla, Sangla, Kalpa and Chitkul in Kinnaur also received fresh snowfall on Tuesday. Manali and Solang Nullah in Kullu valley have also been receiving snowfall for the last three days.
?The apple crop requires 700 to 1,400 hours of chilling with the temperature at 7 degrees Celsius or less. The snow has brought down the temperature raising the hopes of a bumper apple crop,” KR Dhiman, vice-chancellor of YS Parmar university of horticulture and forestry, Nauni-Sloan told FE.
The snow has naturally cheered apple growers of the state as fruit industry accounts for a turnover of about Rs 2,000 crore per year. Apple is the main fruit crop of Himachal Pradesh and is being grown in nine out of 12 districts and accounts for about 40% of the total area under all fruit crop cultivation. More than 2, 00,000 families in the state are engaged in apple cultivation and 90% of them are small and marginal farmers with an average holding of less than 0.6 hectare.
Dhiman said: ?Snowfall at this time is excellent for apple as it not only helps maintaining the low temperature required for the bumper crop but also protects plants and fruits from the attack of insecticides?. The snow and rains are boon for apple, he observed.
Shimla received rainfall throughout the day on Monday and on Tuesday, day time temperature was recorded at 7.6 degrees Celsius, while the minimum was at 4.7 degrees Celsius. Widespread rain was experienced in lower areas of the state.
The Met department has forecast more snow in higher reaches and rain in the lower areas through the next four days, causing the cold wave to intensify once again. Keylong, the district headquarters of Lahaul-Spiti, recorded 25 cm of fresh snow and the region has received more than 100 cm of snow over the past three days. Kalpa had 20 cm of snow while Manali and Narkanda had 15 cm each.