Almond, plum crop damaged in Himachal Pradesh after dry weather
By ANISaturday, March 28, 2009
RAMPUR - Farmers in Himachal Pradesh have complained of huge losses as 90 percent of their almond and plum crops have been damaged due to a drought like situation.
The Fruit Farmers’ Association said that they used to sell over 100,000 fruit boxes every year but this year due to the absence of rain, it was difficult.
“This year our almond and plum crops have been destroyed due to drought. We are finding it difficult to make both ends meet. We want the Government to provide us with some crop insurance scheme or find some other solution for us,” said Narender, Secretary of the association.
The farmers demanded that the Government buy their stocks at a reserve price.
” We want that the government should provide us with minimum support price for plum and almond just like minimum support price is provided for apple and lemon,” said Hemant Shelly, a farmer.
India’s annual monsoon rains is crucial for a farm dependent economy.
The four-month monsoon is the main source of water for most farmers in India. However untimely rains create situations such as these.
India is basically an agriculture economy and about 600 million of the billion-plus population depends on agriculture for a living. By Vipul Goel (ANI)
