Snow in Shimla spells disaster for plum, apricot output

Even though tourists were reveling as it snowed in Shimla in last few days, farmers growing peach, plum and other stone fruits in the area are a worried lot. The fresh spell of heavy rain and snow in the hill station has rendered a drop in minimum temperature upto 7-5°C which is conducive for apples but plums, apricots, pears.

Each place like Solan, Shimla, Manali and Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh received more than 50 mm of rain during the past three days. This heavy rain led to minimum temperatures plummeting to 5°C or below to sub-zero in several places. This chill along with low minimum temperatures is proving to be fatal for stone fruits that are in full bloom.

Usually it snows in December and January and snowfall and heavy rain in March is a rarity. Though this rare phenomena has showered joys for tourists and locals, it only showered worry for farmers.

Due to high water content, almost 20-30% of stone fruit production will be damaged.

Snowfall has definitely brought cheers to apple growers as snow is considered as white manure for the apple orchards. However, the extended chill has left farmers of plums, apricot, almonds shivering.

The State’ Star

Apple is the star fruit of Himachal Pradesh as it is grown in nine districts of the state. Season’s snowfall or extended snow till March is a boon to apple growing areas though not much to other commercial crops of the state such as peaches, pears, cherries, apricots, kiwis, almonds and plums.