Horticulture department of Leh in collaboration with the Himalayan Ladakh Agro products today announced the launch of new brand, Ladakh apples in Indian markets.
The farmers in Karkitchoo and Shilichay valley in Kargil district are growing these Karkitchoo apple under the brand of Ladakhi apples as an experiment and have yet to commercialize on a big scale in the Kargil and Leh districts, said the farmers. These are lush red apples that have attracted the consumers in the country, they added
On the other hand, the organic kiwis from Arunachal Pradesh made waves in the fruit markets in Delhi after the Union Law Minister and BJP MP from Arunachal Pradesh Kiren Rijiju launched Kiwis in Delhi Haat.
Rijiju said once you taste the certified organic kiwis of Arunachal Pradesh, you will forever keep demanding it. The organic kiwis will create huge commercial opportunities for the progressive farmers in Arunachal Pradesh. Arunachal Kiwis are of the finest quality in the world, he said.
Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, Ladakh BJP MP said Ladakhi apples have broken all barriers of snow and desolate desert and are now available in stores across India. You can find them in Delhi, Karnataka, Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu, Kerala in stores, he said.
Namgyal and Ladakh Hill development council gave credit to Prime Minister Narender Modi who made it possible to transport the Ladakhi apples from the remote corner of Ladakh to the stores across India.
Tasting the Ladakhi apples, Prime Minister today tweeted saying that if you have got an opportunity, do taste the Ladakhi organic apples. They are delicious!”
The apples are being grown in cold desert of Lahaul-Spiti lately, but the organic Ladakhi apple is a new kid on the block in Indian fruit markets.
With Shimla district at top, Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir are the two top producers of apples in India, though the apples are also produced in pockets in Uttarakhand and in Arunachal in Northeast.
The major challenge for farmers in high altitude Himalayan valleys is the unseasonal snowfall in September and October that ruins not only fruits but also the apple trees. In Lahaul Valley in September 2018-19 the unseasonal snow fall had wreaked havoc damaging 90 per cent of the crop (see picture), recalled Prem Lal a farmer from Lahaul.
In Ladakh, a new comer trying apple cultivation, the farmers face even bigger challenge in both production and transportation. The Ladakhi apples are ready by November when the frost and temperatures are lowest and there is a possibility of unseasonal snowfall that can be catastrophic for the crop, the farmers say.
Second the transportation of fruit to urban markets in mainland India is a big problem across Zozila pass as airlifting is very expensive . The government should put in place some incentive to airlift the crop and some mechanism needs to be developed to protect apple from unseasonal enemies so that farmers go for commercial production and increase their income.
The farmers in Ladakh also face irrigation problem being in a cold desert to raise frost resistant apple trees. It is a big challenge for the researchers and farmers to take apple cultivation in a big way in Ladakh, the farmers said.
(Kuldeep Chauhan is Editor and administrator, HimbuMail, voice of Himalayan People)
