Five years ago young apple growers, many of whom had given up jobs to return to family orchards, came together and formed the Progressive Growers’ Association (PGA) to improve the quality of apples produced in Himachal Pradesh through the use of better agricultural practices and robust saplings.
They were all poised to reap the benefits of these innovations when the coronavirus pandemic laid low their hopes. Export possibilities have all but dried up and to compound their problems Nepali labourers, on whom the apple growers depend, have gone back to Nepal.
A pall of gloom now hangs. . .
