Extreme temperatures, unseasonal rain lead to massive drop stone fruit production in HP

Unfavourable weather conditions have hit stone fruit crops across Himachal Pradesh with growers and workers reporting a massive decline in production by up to 60 per cent as compared to last year.

While the Stone Fruit Growers' Association said there is up to 75 per cent drop in production in certain stone fruit crops, several growers and workers reported arrivals of ''just 10 per cent when compared to last year''.

There were widespread thunderstorms and hailstorms in March and April causing extensive crop damage. However, the exact figures of loss are yet to come.

There is a decline of 75 per cent in cherry and 65 per cent in plum this year as compared to the last, Founder President Stone Fruit Growers' Association, Himachal Pradesh, Deepak Singh, told PTI.

The production of stone fruits -- apricot, cherry, peach and plum -- was 24,622 metric tonnes (2025-26), 24,454 metric tonnes in 2024-25 and the horticulture department has scaled down the expected production to 18,282 metric tonnes in 2026-27, Director Horticulture Satish Kumar Sharma told PTI on Thursday.

He said bad weather conditions have affected the quality of the crop.

State horticulture minister Jagat Singh Negi said extreme heat and cold, coupled with rain and unseasonal snowfall in some areas, affected apple and stone fruit production in the state.

Stone fruits, including apricot, cherry, peach and plus are being produced in 17,300 hectares land for commercial use in the state but extreme temperatures are harmful for the stone fruit crop.

However, the actual production was quite less and growers, arthis, loaders and labourers involved in the trade say that the crop has been massively damaged and the arrivals in mandi's (markets) in May is just 10-20 per cent in comparison to last year.

''Fasal nahin hai, gaadi ka load bhi pura nahin ho raha (there is hardly any crop and it has become difficult to load the truck), said Naresh Kumar, a loader working since 2004.

''I have never seen such a bad season, cherry crop arrivals are at just 10 per cent compared to last year and only 5-7 quintals of cherry is reaching the market daily against over 25 quintals in 2025,'' he said.

Another grower Gyan Chand also said the crop was low and the cost of production has increased and against production of 5,000 boxes of cherry, only 500 have been produced so far this year.

Dushwant Kumar, a fruit seller in Shimla market, rued that there was a steep fall in production compared to last year and even the expenses have not been met and we have to look for some alternative source of income to survive.

Another fruit seller, Suraj, added that not only the arrival of the fruit was less but the quality has also been affected while B D Sharma, a horticulturist, said the arrival in mandis was very low as rainfall and thunderstorms hit the crops at the flowering stage and inflation has added to the woes of growers.

''We used to load 5,000-15,000 boxes per day but this year we are loading around 1,000-1,200 and the arrival so far was just 5 per cent compared to 50 per cent in 2025,'' said a labourer, Bal Bahadur.

The horticulture minister has urged farmers to derive the benefit of Fasal Bima Yojana (Insurance Scheme) to cover up for the losses.

Pleading for high density cultivation, Negi said, ''We have imported latest root stock varieties of stone fruits and introducing varieties which fetch good commercial returns'', adding that global warming is a worldwide challenge.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)