APPLE GROWERS OF HIMACHAL DISENCHANTED, PREPARING FOR PROTESTS IN THE WAKE OF ‘CRASHING’ MARKETS

The disenchanted apple growers of Himachal are planning to mobilise and protest against the government on the lines of Delhi’s ‘Kisan Andolan’. Dozens of horticulture organizations have launched a massive campaign to make people aware at the block level, so that they raise the voice against the ‘injustice’ being perpetrated on apple farmers of Himachal. Meanwhile, to gain the political mileage, the Congress (opposition) is trying to win over the apple growers and has said that apples and horticulture will be a special part of thier manifesto in the upcoming assembly elections. The apple producers in Himachal Pradesh are preparing to fight on many fronts against the unfair practices of the government, apple traders, and big corporates. Meanwhile, some progressive gardeners of the state have started looking for alternatives against the continuous loot from the gardeners in the mandis who are deliberately reducing the prices of apples and arbitrarily fixing the prices of apples for their own benefit. Progressive growers have started preparing for marketing strategies, cold storage facilities and marketing of apples and fruits, so that according to the hard work and quality, the price of the product can be given to the growers. Deepak Singha, the founder of Himachal Pradesh Framers Producer Company, told The Daily Guardian that since years, businessmen and government are cheating with the gardeners, exploitation and injustice is being done to the producers in the mandis. There is no cost for the quality and hard work of fruits, the market is run according to the wishes and benefits of the traders, and the gardeners who work hard for a year are not able to get even a whole year’s bread, he added.