Overview
- State horticulture officials said on Monday that 2026 apple output is expected to drop from 6.99 lakh metric tonnes in 2025 to about 4.36 lakh metric tonnes, a fall of roughly 2.63 lakh tonnes.
- Officials and growers point to insufficient winter snowfall, unseasonal spring rains, frequent hailstorms and erratic temperature swings that have reduced the chilling hours apples need to set fruit.
- The decline puts roughly 2.5 lakh farming families at risk and is likely to shrink Himachal’s roughly Rs 5,000 crore apple economy in proportion to the lower harvest.
- Orchardists report rising costs for medicines and machinery and have urged the state to strengthen irrigation infrastructure and boost awareness and uptake of crop insurance to limit losses.
- Apples now cover about 49% of the state’s fruit area after decades of expansion to roughly 1.16 lakh hectares, and stone fruit output is also forecast to fall slightly to about 23,000 metric tonnes this year.