Cost of production of apple in Himachal Pradesh, 2007 by Ranveer Singh, C.S.Vaidya and Suresh Kumar.
Abstract: Himachal Pradesh has suitable agro-climatic conditions for growing various types of fruit crops. The development of fruit crops has greatly fulfilled the needs and objectives of socio-economic growth. Fruit crops provide higher income and employment per unit of land. Among various fruits grown in the State apple dominate in area as well as production. Apple being perishable in nature requires careful handling during post harvest operations till it reaches the ultimate consumer. The main consuming markets are situated at far-off places from the producing areas. With increase in production and marketed surplus of apple in the State as well as peculiar nature like perishability, fragility, seasonality and bulkiness have resulted in number of post harvest problems. With this view, present study on estimation of post harvest losses in apple was under taken in Himachal Pradesh. The analysis indicated that about 14.48 per cent of total production was post-harvest loss in marketing of apple. The loss in apple was higher at farmers’ level as compared to retailers’ level. Further analysis reveals that per box loss in apple was more on small farm (Rs 21.10/box) and less on marginal farm (Rs 19.01/box). Nearly 3.69 lakh tonnes of apple is produced per year in the state, hence, marketing loss amounts to about Rs 56.28 crore at 2001 prices. The reasons for losses in apple reported by the farmers and traders were poor management of orchard, lack of knowledge about proper packing of fruits and lack of cold storages in producing as well as consuming markets.
