Himachal Pradesh's Rs 5,000 crore apple economy is facing an unprecedented climate crisis, with statewide apple output estimated to drop by approximately 40% in 2026 compared to the previous year. According to state horticulture officials, production is expected to fall from 6.99 lakh Metric tonnes (MT) in 2025 to around 4.36 lakh MT in 2026 — a decline of 2.63 lakh MT.
Weather vagaries drive production decline
Vagaries of weather, including insufficient winter snowfall, unseasonal spring rains, hailstorms, and erratic temperature fluctuations, are hitting apple production, the mainstay of the farm economy in eight districts of the state. Director of Horticulture Satish Kumar stated, "The area under apple cultivation is about 1.16 lakh acres (about 49% of the total area under fruit crops, which is 2.37 lakh hectares) and production was 6.99 lakh MT in 2025, which is estimated to drop to 4.36 lakh MT during 2026."
Impact on farming families and costs
About 2.5 lakh families are involved in apple farming. Orchardists are worried because, in addition to weather-related uncertainties causing huge losses, production costs have also increased due to higher prices for inputs such as medicines and machinery. Stone fruit crops also suffered heavy losses due to inclement weather.
Apple orchardist Balwant Justa said, "The apple production this year has declined due to unfavourable weather conditions as neither snow nor rains came on time. Due to a lack of irrigation facilities, we are dependent on the weather." Growers have urged the government to provide irrigation facilities to every orchardist and make them aware about the crop insurance scheme so that losses could be recovered to some extent.
Economic implications and stone fruit decline
Kumar noted that the state's apple economy was about Rs 5,000 crore, but this year it is likely to be proportionately less. He added that stone fruit production was also declining due to global warming and climate change, rising temperatures (1 to 1.5 degree Celsius), though growers are fetching good returns.
According to data from the horticulture department, in terms of boxes, apple production was 3.49 crore in 2025-26, 2.51 crore in 2024-25, 2.11 crore in 2023-24, 3.36 crore in 2022-23, 3.05 crore in 2021-22, and 2.40 crore in 2020-21, flagging startling variations and gaps in production.
Expansion of apple area and chilling hour deficit
The area under apple production has expanded phenomenally from 400 hectares in 1950-51 to 1,16,338 hectares in the 2024-25 fiscal year, while 27,386 hectares are dedicated to stone fruits. Regarding stone fruits, which mainly include apricot, cherry, peach, and plum, the area under cultivation is 17,306 hectares, and production is expected to decrease slightly from 24,622 last year to about 23,000 this year.
Apple grower Virender Singh said, "Temperatures are high with inadequate chilling hours; additionally, hailstorms have damaged the apple crop, input costs have increased, and production is going down." Desired cooling (chilling) hours (1200 to 1600 below 7 degrees C) are required for traditional varieties of apple and 600 hours for early varieties, according to President of the Fruit Vegetable Flower Growers Association, Harish Chauhan.
Growers call for irrigation and insurance awareness
Orchardist Raghubeer Singh Chauhan stated, "Income is going down and it is becoming difficult to sustain on farming as we are dependent on the weather, and there is a dire need to strengthen irrigation facilities. We are also not aware of the crop insurance schemes."
