Himachal horticulture project benefits 1.50 lakh farmers

Shimla: Around 1.50 lakh small farmers and agro-entrepreneurs in Himachal Pradesh have benefited from the state government’s Rs 1,046 crore Horticulture Development Project. The project got underway in 2016 and ended in 2024, funded by the World Bank. The aim of the project was to bring improvement in the productivity, quality, and access of suitable markets for horticulture produce in the region.

The project remained active for over eight years, which helped the state import 33.20 lakh plants of 122 varieties, including apples, California almonds, walnuts, and cherries. Among these, 28.57 lakh plants were apple varieties, 54,000 were pears, 27,140 were walnuts, and 17,200 were California almonds.

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Satish Kumar Sharma, Joint Director of Horticulture, shared that 13.09 lakh of these plants were grafted, meaning they were made by combining two different plant varieties to get the desired fruit. Additionally, 17.12 lakh were rootstocks, the base of grafted plants, stored under strict quarantine in 93 progeny-cum-demonstration orchards across the state. The department also propagated many plants in local nurseries to meet growing demand.

Private nurseries played a key role, helping in the import of plants from overseas. But the price of private nurseries was very high compared to government ones. The government’s price of imported grafted apple, pear, and peach plants was Rs 400 each, while the private nurseries sold them for Rs 700. The state government has fixed the price of several imported plants at Rs 300 each plant in 2024-25.

The department has been trying its best to provide quality plants to local farmers at cheap prices, despite the end of the project.