From the tree to the table

As Himachal Pradesh gets ready for the coming apple season, orchard owner Surinder Chauhan recalls that during his father’s time growing the fruit was not very lucrative. There were no proper roads and no post-harvest handling facilities in the State.

“The produce had to be carried on foot for 10 km from our village Neera Ghati, in Kotkhai, before it was loaded on a bus that would take almost the whole day to reach Shimla, 60 km away. Farmers like my father had no choice but to sell the produce for whatever price offered by the middlemen, who exploited them at will. If you wanted better prices, you had to take the produce directly to the Delhi market.”

It was in the backdrop of a lack of marketing, transport and post-harvest handling facilities for the apple crop that the Himachal Pradesh Horticulture Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation Ltd (HPMC) was set up in 1974. The overriding objective was to rescue farmers from exploitation by middlemen and commission agents.

Today the corporation has a wide network of post-harvest facilities including marketing, packing and grading, cold storage, warehousing and fruit processing both in the State and outside. It works with the Himachal Pradesh State Cooperative Marketing and Consumers’ Federation Ltd, popularly known as HIMFED, to help farmers increase their earnings.

Farmers like Chauhan no longer worry about transport facilities. They can deposit their produce at the collection centres set up every 3-4 km in the apple-growing areas. The farmers get a receipt on the spot and then the payment. HIMFED and HPMC co-ordinate with the inspector overseeing the collection at the more than 300 centres.

Additionally, farmers like Ashok Jistu of Luga village, in Kumarsain Tehsil, Kotgarh, are using HPMC’s cold-storage facilities with controlled atmosphere at Oddi and Jarole Tikker. The benefit, says Jistu, is that one can store the fruit for long periods and sell when the price is good. The controlled temperature keeps the produce farm-fresh. Happy that the storage charge is nominal, Jitsu says only farmers should be allowed to use the facility.

HPMC officials, however, point out that the controlled-atmosphere chamber, with a capacity for 3,000 to 4,000 boxes, must be stocked fully to work well. Moreover, it should not be opened time and again. Small producers must necessarily pool together and store and remove their produce at the same time.

Apart from its primary product, namely apple juice concentrate, HPMC also makes available packaged juices, squashes, tinned food products, pickles, jams, ketchup, wine and ciders.

However, with the entry of private players, HPMC is facing stiff competition. Raghubir Singh from Kumra village, in Kinnaur district, says he prefers the private companies because they make prompt payments.

Unlike the private sector, HPMC has a social responsibility and its primary aim is to help farmers, argues its vice-chairman, Prakash Thakur. As it acts as the government’s agency, payment is sometimes delayed, he says. However, this is being streamlined and HPMC is shifting its focus from trading to modernising its infrastructure. It is to receive ₹221 crore from World Bank for the latest post-harvest technology.

The apple economy of the State is estimated at nearly ₹3,600 crore. However, cheaper imports from China and Australia and their year-round availability pose yet another challenge.

The writer is a senior journalist based in Delhi

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