Studies show that substances like surfactants used in adhesives are toxic. The Punjab Food Safety department has asked traders not to paste stickers on fruit and vegetable sellers, noting that these can pose health hazards to consumers. The Food Safety Teams have been directed to check the sale of such …
SHIMLA: With apple production facing a decline due to global warming, vegetable cultivation is gaining popularity among farmers in Himachal Pradesh. In 1951-52, the state had vegetable production area of 3,000 hectares with annual production of 25,000 tonne, which has now increased to 65,000 hectares with annual production of 1,269 …
Shimla: Fruit growers are a happy lot as the apple belt in the Shimla region recorded the heaviest snowfall in January in the past six years, raising hopes of a good crop. However, power generation in the state plunged to the lowest level as the discharge in rivers and streams …
Shimla: The Himachal Seb Utpadak Sangh has urged the government to take immediate steps to protect the interests of apple growers who will be exposed to international competition with the abolition of 52 per cent import and custom duty on apple from 2012-13 under the WTO agreement. Secretary of the …
Shimla: It has been a year of mixed fortunes for farmers with the state recording an all-time high rabi and kharif production and the lowest apple output since 1999. The government took a major initiative to promote sustainable and environment-friendly agriculture and horticulture in the ecologically fragile hill state by …
The implementation of the Rs 85-crore apple rejuvenation project to replace old and senile plantations with new high-yielding varieties will finally commence this winter. Learning from the mistakes of the past when growers neglected pollinating varieties and mostly planted commercial varieties, the Horticulture Department has made it mandatory to have …
Climate Change Of late, farmer Rinchen of Semtokha is seeing some strange behaviour in her garden. When trees in her garden at this time of the year shed leaves, a few apple trees have flowered again; and a plum tree is bearing fruit for the second time. The banana plants …
Parasitoid disturbance populations in agroecosystems can be maintained through the provision of habitat refuges with host resources. However, specialized herbivores that feed on different host plants have been shown to form host-specialized races. Parasitoids may subsequently specialize on these herbivore host races and therefore prefer parasitizing insects from the refuge, …
Indian importers are suffering huge losses as the Chinese apple has taken a hit in the domestic market, despite a lean crop, due to quality concerns. With the pre-harvest assessment indicating a poor crop in Himachal with an expected production of less than two crore boxes, 40 per cent of …
Uttarakhand has decided to install anti-hail guns as part of efforts to save fruit crops, especially apples, from being damaged by hailstorms. “The Centre has already agreed in-principle to include our proposal in the National Agriculture Development Programme and as soon as it is done, the process for installation of …
The Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Thursday unanimously adopted a private member's resolution urging the Centre to hike the import duty on apples and bring it under “special category products” to protect the interests of farmers here who feel threatened by the recent flooding of imported apples in the Indian market. …
High-level meeting on Aug 8 to discuss their demands Apple growers of the state, who have been suffering heavy losses due to large-scale import of the fruit, are pinning hopes on a high-level meeting convened by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on August 8 to find a lasting solution to …
The state government on Wednesday requested the Centre to hike the import duty on apples to safeguard the interests of fruit growers of Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and northeastern states. State Horticulture minister Narinder Bragta met Union Commerce and Industries Minister Anand Sharma and drew his attention to …
More than a month after senior Congress leader Vidya Stokes raised her concerns about apples from the state receiving a severe beating in Indian markets, following bulk imports from foreign countries, especially China, Horticulture Minister Narinder Bragta admitted that China has dumped its apples at some ports, including Kolkata and …
Fresh stocks of Himachal apples are set to hit the markets next month, but they may spoil the taste of many buyers as more than half of the fruit crops, including cherries, peaches and green almonds, have already been damaged by unfavourable weather conditions. The worst disappointment to apple growers …
The government today dispatched teams of the Horticulture Department to assess the widespread damage caused by the intense fury of the hailstorm over the past two days in the entire apple belt of Shimla and parts of Kinnaur with the estimated damage to the apple crop already touching Rs 248 …
A severe hailstorm caused extensive damage to the apple crop in the Kotkhai area in the heart of the apple belt. The hailstorm struck in the afternoon and continued to lash the region for about 90 minutes. The maximum damage was reported from Baghi, Ratnari, Baghal, Kalbogh, Khaneti, Tharola and …
Rains brought down the mercury for the second consecutive day in North India, even as dust storms and lightning claimed 25 lives in four states. Twelve people died in Uttar Pradesh, nine in Punjab, two in Rajasthan and two in Haryana, officials in the respective state capitals said. In UP, …
The sudden drop in temperature after scattered rains and thundershowers has brought fresh worries for the apple growers, who were expecting a good apple season after apple plants got sufficient chilling hours in winter. Frequent changes in the weather conditions
