Apple growers to protest for subsidy, against import in HP, J&K, U’khand

Shimla: The apple growers of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttarakhand will stage a two-day sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi from March 6 against fruit import and for the subsidy on fertilisers, insecticides, and fungicides.
United under the banner of the Apple Growers’ Association, they will hold a workshop on these issues in Jammu and Kashmir during June next year.The association planned it out in Shimla on Monday in the presence of former Kerala legislator and All-India Kisan Sabha national finance secretary P Krishnaprasad, former Kashmir legislator Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami, Theog legislator Rakesh Singha, and Himachal Pradesh Sanyukt Kisan Manch convener Harish Chauhan. It plans a block-level protest on January 10 in the state. P Krishnaprasad said: “The apple growers aren’t the only farmers being exploited. They make Rs 24 on each kilogram of apple, while it sells for Rs 60 to 300 a kg. The country’s apple business is worth Rs 14,000 crore a year, out of which the orchardists get only Rs 4,000 crore, while the middlemen keep the rest. The reason is that an increased cost of apple production has drowned the farmers in debt. The solution is in making village co-operatives.”
Tarigami said: “Promoting the co-operatives will stop the arbitrary pricing forced by the arhtiyas (middlemen). In the hill states, all rural families are associated in some way with apple business. Many countries protect their horticulturists and farmers, while we import apple from Italy, Turkey, and Iran. We need to promote agricultural research to be able to compete with foreign products. The orchardists of Uttarakhand, J&K, and HP should fight together to solve their problems.”
Singha said: “HP’s total cultivable land is 6 lakh hectares, of which apple covers 1.2 lakh hectares. In 15 years, this will be the state’s main crop. Over 60% of state’s farmers have less than 5 bighas and it is difficult to survive on so little land when the concessions on agriculture and horticulture are being reduced. The interests of the farmers and the big industrialists clash.”