Technology Reporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n “My neighbours thought I’d lost my mind,” says farmer Kakasaheb Sawant.<\/p>\n In 2022 he had decided to plant some apple trees, not crazy for a farmer unless, like Mr Sawant, you live in subtropical southern India, where temperatures can hit 43C.<\/p>\n He bought 100 saplings, of which 80 survived. Last year each tree produced between 30 and 40 kilogrammes of fruit.<\/p>\n “My farm has become something of a local miracle. People travel from far-off places just to see the apple trees growing under the hot Maharashtra sun.”<\/p>\n It’s not been an unqualified success though. One problem is that the apples are not sweet enough to sell.<\/p>\n Mr Sawant remains enthusiastic. He’s had some success selling apple tree saplings and is optimistic about future harvests.<\/p>\n “This is the beginning. The trees are getting acclimatised so according to me in next four to five years these trees will start bearing good, sweet apples.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In his own small way, Mr Sawant is hoping to meet India’s rising demand for apples. <\/p>\n Production has risen 15% over the last five years to 2.5 million tonnes.<\/p>\n But that is not keeping up with demand and India’s imports have roughly doubled to 600,000 tonnes over the same period, according to S Chandrashekhar, who analyses India’s apple trade. <\/p>\n “We do have a shortage of apple production,” he says. “There are not many new players… at the same time, and there is no new investment.”<\/p>\n Essential for a good apple crop is a lengthy period of winter temperature between 0C and 6C.<\/p>\n Countries like the UK, with around 1,000 hours of this chill-time, can produce almost any apple variety.<\/p>\n But in India areas with those conditions are more limited. <\/p>\n Most of India’s apples come from two regions in the north of the country -Jammu and Kashmir and neighbouring Himachal Pradesh.<\/p>\n Mr Chandrashekhar says that many farms in those regions are becoming less productive. <\/p>\n “There are lot of old orchards producing fewer apples – that means the yield is coming down,” he says.<\/p>\n He says that climate change is making conditions less favourable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the hope of expanding apple production into new areas, some scientists and farmers are experimenting with so-called low-chill varieties.<\/p>\n Those are apple trees that can produce crops with around 400 hours of temperatures between 0C and 6C.<\/p>\n Ranchi, eastern India is also not an apple growing region – its subtropical climate is too hot. <\/p>\n But researchers at the Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) are testing 18 saplings of three low-chill varieties.<\/p>\n Success has been limited so far – only one of the varieties has produced any fruit. <\/p>\n “The plants have not reached optimal sizes. The tree has given us only around one to two kilogrammes of apples in 2024. I would not say that they are of best quality, but they were edible,” says Dr Majid Ali. <\/p>\n He says that as well as an unfavourable climate, the local soil is not ideal for apple trees and the trees get attacked by termites.<\/p>\n “This is an experimental stage. To reach a conclusion it would take three to four years to say if it is successful.”<\/p>\n He says that some local farmers have also been experimenting with low-chill apple varieties, also with little success. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Some are sceptical that apples cultivated in hot areas will ever be a commercial proposition. <\/p>\n “The fruit that grows in non-traditional regions has a very short shelf life. The taste is not so sweet,” says Dr Dinesh Thakur, associate director of a regional horticulture research and training centre at Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry.<\/p>\n “These low-chill apples can be grown as novelty fruit in a kitchen garden, but their viability as a commercial crop is not proven… most of them are a failure,” he says. <\/p>\n Dr Thakur is based in the traditional northern apple growing region of Himachal Pradesh and his research focuses on the improvement of apples through breeding.<\/p>\n “Climatic change is creating havoc in apple cultivation,” he says. <\/p>\n He says the number of those crucial chilling hours are falling and due to erratic weather conditions farmers are facing colossal financial losses every year. <\/p>\n In search of better conditions, some orchards are being planted in higher locations, which were once considered too cold, he says.<\/p>\n Under a government sponsored project his team are experimenting with 300 varieties of apples, to assess the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n “We are also working on climate-resilient apple genotypes that can withstand the existing climate,” he says.<\/p>\n So far, they have developed an apple that matures with a ripe colour two months earlier than existing apple trees. <\/p>\n “This helps offset erratic weather patterns brought by climate change and has a quality advantage over those areas where colour formation is problem due to lack of sunlight,” Dr Thakur says. <\/p>\n “This is just the beginning of research to create climate resilient fruit and create a fruit that is acceptable to the Indian taste bud.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n For Mr Chandrashekhar, boosting India’s apple output will take more than just scientific work. <\/p>\n “Apple orchards in the traditional apple cultivation areas are 15 to 20 years old. What is needed is replanting of new saplings,” he says.<\/p>\n “The industry needs investment, huge investment. Who will do that?” he asks.<\/p>\n He would like to see the juice and jam business developed, to provide the industry with another source of income. <\/p>\n “That has to be a booster which can improve the apple economy and provide a better position for apple growers.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/8969\/live\/54cf68e0-2a4e-11f0-a8b0-31dbf9c39693.jpg.webp\")
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