Table-2 : Country-wise export
of apple from India during 2001-02.
|
Country
|
Quantity
(Tonnes)
|
Value
(Rs. in lakhs)
|
|
Bangladesh
|
19234.67
|
1320.37
|
|
Bahrain
|
0.50
|
0.11
|
|
Kuwait
|
20.00
|
8.10
|
|
Sri
Lanka
|
21.00
|
2.07
|
|
Maldives
|
0.10
|
0.02
|
|
Malaysia
|
4.75
|
2.43
|
|
Saudi
Arabia
|
13.93
|
5.65
|
|
Singapore
|
0.56
|
0.41
|
|
U.A.E.
|
0.50
|
0.13
|
|
Total
|
19296.01
|
1339.29
|
Source : APEDA, New Delhi
|
|
4.3
Analysis and Future Strategy
An agri-export zone has
been established in Himachal Pradesh covering
the districts of Shimla, Siramour, Kullu, Mandi, Chamba and Kinnaur considering
the vast potential for increasing exports. Initial targets are for exporting
apples to neighbouring countries as well as to west Asia and to the south-east
Asian countries. With increase
in production of apples in the State, the State government is taking effective
steps for its marketing besides providing packing material, transportation,
ensuring adequate procurement of apples under Market Intervention Scheme, so
that the growers get remunerative prices in the markets.
Arunachal Pradesh is one of the
ideal locations for apple cultivation. If high yielding varieties of apple are
introduced in the state it can make a big headway by exporting the produce to
Bangladesh which presently depends on Bhutan besides meeting the internal
demand of the northeastern markets.
Efforts are being made by the NHB
and the State Govts. for imparting modern technologies to the growers in apple producing
states.
5
PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY
5.1
Agro-climatic requirements
Apple can be grown at altitudes 1,500-2,700
m. above m.s.l. in the Himalayan range which experience 1,000-1,500 hours of
chilling (the no. of hours during which temperature remains at or below 70
C during the winter season). The temperature during the growing season is
around 21-240 C. For optimum growth and fruiting, apple trees need
100-125 cm. of annual rainfall, evenly distributed during the growing season.
Excessive rains and fog near the fruit maturity period result in poor fruit
quality with improper colour development and fungal spots on its surface. Areas
exposed to high velocity of winds are not desirable for apple cultivation.
Loamy soils, rich in organic matter
with pH 5.5 to 6.5 and having proper drainage and aeration are suitable for
cultivation.
5.2 Growing and Potential Belts
Dry temperate areas are suitable for apple cultivation. The fruits produced in these areas are of high quality with high sugar content and long shelf life.
The state-wise growing belts are
given in the following :
|
State
|
Growing belts
|
|
Jammu & Kashmir
|
Srinagar, Budgam, Pulwama,
Anatnag, Baramullah, Kupwara
|
|
Himachal Pradesh
|
Shimla, Kullu, Sirmour, Mandi,
Chamba, Kinnaur
|
|
Uttaranchal
|
Almora, Pithoragarh, Tehri
Garhwal, Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Dehradun, Nainital
|
|
Arunachal Pradesh
|
Tawang, West Kanneng, Lower
Subansiri
|
5.3
Varieties Cultivated
Important varieties cultivated in
different states of India are given below :
|
Category
|
|
Varieties
|
|
Clonal rootstocks
|
-
|
M 9, M 26, M7, MM 106, MM 11
|
|
Scab resistant
|
-
|
Prima, Priscilla, Sir Prize,
Jonafree, Florina, Macfree, Nova Easy Grow, Coop 12, Coop 13 (Redfree), Nova
Mac, Liberty, Freedom, Firdous, Shireen
|
|
Hybrids
|
-
|
Lal Ambri (Red Delicious x Ambri),
Sunehari (Ambri x Golden Delicious), Chaubattia Princess, Chaubattia Anupam
(Early Shanburry x Red Delicious), Ambred (Red Delicious x Ambri), Ambrich
(Richared x Ambri), Ambroyal (Starking Delicious x Ambri)
|
|
Low Chilling
|
-
|
Michal, Schlomit, Anna, Tamma,
Vered, Neomi, Tropical Beauty, Parlin’s Beauty
|
|
Pollinizing
|
-
|
Tydeman’s Early, Red Gold, Golden
Delicious, Mc Intosh, Lord Lambourne, Winter Banana, Granny Smith, Starkspur
Golden, Golden Spur
|
5.4
Land Preparation
For establishment
of new apple orchard, proper layout of the proposed area is very essential.
5.5
Planting
5.5.1
Planting Material
The budding and tongue grafting
methods are commonly used for propagation of apple. The planting material
should be purchased only from the registered nurseries and proper care should
be taken during transportation of the same.
5.5.2
Planting season
Planting is usually done in the month of
January and February.
5.5.3
Spacing
The average number
of plants in an area of one ha. can range between 200 to 1250. Four different
categories of planting density are followed viz. low (less than 250
plants/ha.), moderate (250-500 plants/ha.), high (500-1250 plants/ha.) and
ultra high density (more than 1250 plants /ha.). The combination of rootstock
and scion variety determines the plant spacing and planting density/unit area.
5.5.4
Planting Method
Square or hexagonal system of
planting is followed in the valleys whereas contour method is usually followed
on the slopes. Plantation of pollinator species in between the main species is
essential for proper fruit setting. For establishment of an orchard having
Royal Delicious variety, plantation of Red Delicious and Golden Delicious as
pollinators is recommended by the Horticulture Department. In the month of
October-November, pits of size 1x1x1 m. are prepared for planting. In each pit,
30-40 kg. of FYM, 500 g. of Single super phosphate and 50 g. of Malathion dust
are added after mixing properly. After about a month the planting is done. One
irrigation should be provided immediately after planting.
5.6
Nutrition
Farmyard manure @ 10 kg./ year age
of tree is applied along with other fertilizers. The ratio of N, P and K which
is applied in an orchard of optimal fertility is 70:35:70 g./year (age of the
tree). After 10 years of age, the dose is stabilized at 700:350:700 g. of N, P
and K /year. The standard fertilizer dose of N, P and K in an “off” year (when
the crop load is low) is 500 g., 250g. and 400 g. respectively. On some trees
deficiency of zinc, boron, manganese and calcium may be observed which is
corrected with the application of appropriate chemicals through foliage spray.
5.7
Irrigation
The water
requirement of apple is 114 cm. per annum which can be scheduled in 15-20
irrigations. In summer, irrigation is provided at an interval of 7-10 days
while in winter it is given at an interval of 3-4 weeks. At least 8 irrigations
are to be provided during critical period (April-August) i.e. main requirement
after fruit set.
5.8
Training & pruning
Timely pruning and training
operation is essential for proper growth and good productivity. The plants are
trained according to growth habit and vigour of the rootstocks. The standard
trees are trained on modified central leader system so that plants receive
proper light. This improves fruit
colour and also minimises the effect of heavy snowfall and hail. Spindle bush system is suitable for high
density planting under mid hill conditions.
Pruning is essential to maintain a
proper balance between vegetative growth and spur development. Proper pruning
of weak and undesirable branches/twigs is necessary after six years of
plantation.
5.9
Intercultural Operations
Application of glyphosate @ 800
ml./ha. or Gammaxone /Paraquat (0.5% ) as post emergence herbicide suppresses
weed growth for 4-5 months.
5.10
Mulching
Mulching with hay or black alkathene is
found to be effective in controlling the weeds in cool climates and also in
conserving moisture. Use of dry grass or oak leaves has also been found
to be effective in conserving soil moisture.
5.11
Inter-cropping
Green manuring crops viz. sunflower
and bean may be cultivated in the early years of plantation in order to improve
soil texture and nutrient status of soil.
5.12 Growth regulators
Use of growth hormones is essential for good flowering and proper colouration in fruits. Heavy bearing in apple usually results in small-sized, poor quality fruits and sets in alternate bearing cycle. Fruit thinning is essential in pollinizing varieties for regulating adequate cross-pollination. Chemicals like carbaryl or Sevin @ 750-1000 ppm. or NAA @ 10-20 ppm. at petal fall may be applied for the purpose.
5.13 Plant Protection Measures
5.13.1 Insect Pests
The insect pests mostly observed are San Jose Scale (Quadraspidiotus perniciosus), white scale (Pseudoulacaspis sp.), wooly apple aphid (Eriosoma lanigerum), blossom thrips (Thrips rhopalantennalis) etc. Planting of resistant rootstocks, suitable intercultural operations and spraying with chloropyriphos, fenitrothion, carbaryl etc. have been found to be effective in controlling the pests.
5.13.2 Diseases
The main diseases reported are collar rot (Phytophthora cactorum), apple scab (Venturia inaequalis), sclerotius blight (Sclerotium rolfsii), crown gall (Agrobacterium tumefaciens), cankers, die-back diseases etc. Plants resistant to the diseases should be used for cultivation. The infected plant parts need to be destroyed. Application of copper oxychloride, carbendazim, mancozeb and other fungicides have been found to be effective in controlling the diseases.
5.13.3 Disorders
In apple, there are three distinct
fruit drops, i) early drop resulting from unpollinated or unfertilized
blossoms, ii) June drop (due to moisture stress and fruit competition) and iii)
Pre-harvest drop. Pre-harvest drop can be controlled by spraying NAA @ 10 ppm.
(1 ml. of Planofix dissolved in 4.5 l. of water) about a week before the
expected drop.
5.14
Harvesting and Yield
The orchard start
bearing from eighth year and the economic life of an apple tree exceeds 30
years. From eighth to seventeenth year, productivity goes on increasing and
thereafter remains constant upto 30 years. The level of productivity varies
form elevation to elevation. Production stage extends upto even forty years
depending upon agro-climatic condition. Apple being a climacteric fruit, the
maturity period does not coincide with ripening. The fruits are usually
harvested before they are fully ripe.
The average yield
of different apple varieties in the state of Uttaranchal is very low (5-6
tonnes/ha.) as compared to that in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir
which is around 11-13 tonnes/ha. (vide Table
1).
6 POST HARVEST MANAGEMENT
6.1
Pre-cooling
The fruits are placed in a cool and
ventilated place to remove field heat before packing. Fruit surface must be
free from moisture before grading, wrapping or packing in cartons.
6.2
Grading
Grading of apples is done according
to fruit size and fruit appearance or quality. On the basis of fruit size,
apples are graded manually in 6 grades. On the basis of fruit colour, shape,
quality and appearance, apple fruits can be graded in three or more quality
grades. These grades are designated as AAA, AA and A; A,B,C; or extra fancy,
fancy class I and fancy class II.
6.3
Storage
Apples have a long storage life
compared to other fruits and can be stored for a period of 4-8 months after
harvesting. The fruits can be kept in cold storage at a temperature of about –
1.10 to 00 C and 85-90% relative humidity.
6.4
Packing
Apples are usually packed in wooden
boxes having the capacity to accommodate about 10 or 20 kg. fruits. Corrugated
fibre board cartons are also used for packing.
6.5
Transportation
Road transport by trucks is the most popular
mode of transport due to easy approach from orchards to the market.
6.6
Marketing
Marketing of the produce is mainly
controlled by intermediaries like wholesalers and commission agents. During years of good production, the
wholesale prices in producing areas slip down to un-remunerative levels.
7
TECHNOLOGY SOURCES
Major sources for technology are:
(i)
Hill
Campus, Ranichouri, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Tehri
Garhwal, Uttaranchal.
(ii)
Department
of Horticulture and Food Processing, Udhyan Bhawan, Chaubatia, Ranikhet,
Almora-263651, Uttaranchal.
8
ECONOMICS OF A ONE ACRE MODEL
8.1
High
quality commercial cultivation of crop by using high quality planting material
and drip irrigation leads to multiple benefits viz.
·
Synchronized growth, flowering and harvesting;
·
Reduction
in variation of off-type and non-fruit plants;
·
Improved
fruit quality;
Costs & Returns
8.2
A
one acre plantation of the crop is a highly viable proposition. The cost components of such a model along
with the basis for costing are exhibited in Annexures I & II. A summary is given in the figure
below. The project cost works out to
Rs. 1.50 lakhs.
Project Cost: (Unit – One Acre)
(Amount in Rs.)
|
Sl. No.
|
Component
|
Proposed Expenditure
|
|
1.
|
Cultivation Expenses
|
|
|
|
(i)
|
Cost of planting material
|
2500
|
|
|
(ii)
|
Manures & fertilizers
|
7700
|
|
|
(iii)
|
Insecticides & pesticides
|
3000
|
|
|
(iv)
|
Land Preparation
|
4200
|
|
|
(v)
|
Others, if any, (Power)
|
3600
|
|
|
|
Sub Total
|
21000
|
|
2.
|
Irrigation
|
|
|
|
(i)
|
Borewell
|
25000
|
|
|
(ii)
|
SIP & Electrical Installation
|
25000
|
|
|
(iii)
|
Others, if any
|
-
|
|
|
|
Sub Total
|
50000
|
|
3.
|
Cost of Drip/Sprinkler
|
20000
|
|
4.
|
Infrastructure
|
|
|
|
(i)
|
Store & Pump House
|
20000
|
|
|
(ii)
|
Labour room
|
5000
|
|
|
(iii)
|
Agriculture Equipments
|
10000
|
|
|
(iii)
|
Others, if any, please specify
|
|
|
|
|
Sub Total
|
35000
|
|
5.
|
Land Development
|
|
|
|
(i)
|
Soil leveling
|
4000
|
|
|
(ii)
|
Digging
|
-
|
|
|
(iii)
|
Fencing
|
20000
|
|
|
(iv)
|
Others, if any, please specify
|
-
|
|
|
|
Sub Total
|
24000
|
|
6.
|
Land, if newly purchased (Please indicate the year)*
|
|
|
|
Grand Total
|
1,50,000.00
|
*Cost of newly purchased land will be limited to one-tenth of the total
project cost
8.3
The major components of the model
are:
·
Land
Development: (Rs. 4.0 thousand): This is the labour cost of shaping and
dressing the land site as well as layout of the orchard.
·
Fencing
(Rs. 20.0 thousand): It is necessary to guard the orchard by
barbed wire fencing to safeguard the valuable produce from animals and prevent
poaching. This is part cost of fencing
in the first year.
·
Irrigation
Infra-structure (Rs. 50.0 thousand): For effective working with drip irrigation
system, it is necessary to install a bore well with diesel/electric pumpset and
motor. This is part cost of irrigation
infrastructure.
·
Drip
Irrigation & Fertigation System (Rs. 20.0 thousand): This is average cost of one acre drip system
for apple inclusive of the cost of fertigation equipment. The actual cost will vary depending on
location, plant population and plot geometry.
·
Equipment/Implements
(Rs. 10.0 thousand): For investment on
improved manually operated essential implements a provision of another Rs. 10
thousand is included.
·
Building
and Storage (Rs. 25.0 thousand): A one
acre orchard would require minimally a labour shed and a store-cum
grading/packing room & pump house.
·
Cost
of Cultivation (Rs. 21.0 thousand): Land preparation and planting operations
will involve 60 days of manual labour, the cost of which will come to Rs. 4.20
thousand. The cost of planting material
(250 plants per acre at 4 x 4 m) works out to Rs. 2.5 thousand i.e. 250 plants
@ Rs. 10.0 per plant.
8.4
Labour
cost has been put at an average of Rs. 70 per man-day. The actual cost will vary from location to
location depending upon minimum wage levels or prevailing wage levels for
skilled and unskilled labour.
Inter-cropping
Since the orchard would be start
giving yield from 8th year onwards, it is proposed to take up
inter-cropping particularly off season vegetables which would cost RS. 10000/-
per acre and would yield on average 5 tonnes/acre.
8.5
Recurring
Production Cost: Recurring production
costs are exhibited in Annexure III. The main components are planting material,
land preparation, inputs application (FYM, fertilizers, micro-nutrients liming
material, plant protection chemicals etc.), power and labour on application of
inputs, inter-cultural and other farm operations.
8.6
Besides,
provision is included for labour for harvesting and packing/transportation
charges for the produce to the nearest secondary market. The total production cost for a one acre
orchard works out to Rs. 174.05 thousand during the first seven years. In the post-operative period i.e. from 8th
year onward, the annual recurring cost ranges from Rs.22.00 thousand to Rs.25.30
thousand, at which level it stabilizes.
8.7
Returns
from the Project: The yield from the
plantation is obtained from eighth year onwards. The yield goes up from 3 tonnes per acre to 6 tonnes per acre. Valued at Rs. 11000 per tonne, the return goes up from Rs. 33 thousand to Rs. 66 thousand (Vide
Annexure-III).
Project Financing
8.8.
Balance Sheet:
The projected balance sheet of the model is given at Annexure IV. There would be three sources of financing the project as below:
Source Rs. Thousand
Farmer’s share 75.0 Subsidy 30.0
Term
loan 45.0 Total 150.0
8.9.
Profit
& Loss Account: The cash flow statement may be seen in Annexure
V. Annexure VI
projects the profit and loss account of the model. Gross profit goes up from Rs. 11.0 thousand in year 8 to Rs. 40.7
thousand in year eleven.
8.10.
Repayment
of Term Loan: The term loan will be
repaid in eleven 6 monthly installments with a moratorium of 90 months. The rate of interest would have to be
negotiated with the financing bank. It has been put at 12% in the model (vide Annexures
VII A & B).
8.11.
Annexure VIII gives depreciation calculations.
Project Viability:
8.12.
IRR/BCR:
The viability of the project is assessed in Annexure IX. The IRR works out to 23 and the BCR
to 1.6.
8.13.
The
Debt Service coverage ratio calculations are presented in Annexure X. The average DSCR works out to 3.09.
8.14.
Payback
Period: On the basis of costs and
returns of the model, the pay back period is estimated at 6.6 years (vide
Annexure XI).
8.15.
Break-even
Point: The break even point will be reached in the 3rd
year. At this point fixed cost would
work out to 63.1% of gross sales (vide Annexure XII).
