Farmers in Nepal are set to reap high profits from the high yielding variety of apples imported from Dr Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry at Nauni, Solan district of Himachal Pradesh.
Around 2000 root stocks of apple plants have been imported by Nepalese farmers, which have the capacity of producing 25 metric tonnes per hectare.
Talking to The Statesman, Head of Fruit Science Department, Nauni Horticulture University, Dr Narender Sharma said few farmers from Nepal have purchased dwarf apple plants.
“These plants are capable of yielding around 25 tonnes of apples per hectare,” Sharma said, adding the plants have been developed at varsity by the scientists.
At present, apple is grown on 5063 hectare area with a production of around 43,000 metric tonnes per year and the per hectare production at present stands between 5 to 8 metric tonnes.
It is worthwhile to mention here that apple growing areas in Nepal are situated in remote places in the mid and high mountains.
These areas are not yet accessible to motor roads and essential inputs such as fertilizers, plant protection chemicals and horticulture tools etc are not regularly available.
The varsity under the World Bank-funded Rs.1,160 Crore Horticulture Modernisation Project is importing and developing virus-free plant material that conform to international standards.
In this way, these new varieties of apples could prove beneficial for them as these dwarf varieties are likely to develop less diseases.
The Nepal government introduced apples in Jumla in the 1970s and they too were brought from Himachal Pradesh.