SHIMLA: State Government would explore possibilities of adopting apple and fruit packaging system available with the New Zealand growers in Himachal Pradesh. This was revealed by Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister in a meeting with Shri Paul Vaughan, Trade Commissioner of New Zealand High Commission, who called on him here today to apprise him of the latest packaging facilities available in that country.

Chief Minister said that Himachal Pradesh was popularly known as the 'Apple State of India' for its quality apple produce and the crop was contributing significantly towards the gross domestic product of the state. He said that state had progressive growers who were always keen to adopt latest technology available in the world and compete with one and another to produce the quality apple and other fruits. He said that a number of high yielding varieties of fruit had emerged on the horticulture scene of the state and more farmers were cultivating such varieties to procure higher produce and get remunerative returns for the same in the market. He said that a progressive farmer in district Bilaspur had successfully produced quality apple crop in the warmer climate and emerged as a source of inspiration to rest of the farming community. He said that the state growers were aware about the emerging marketing trends and keep themselves updated about the latest in the domestic and international markets.

Prof. Dhumal said that presently the growers were carrying grading of their produce manually which was a time consuming and laborious process. He said that to keep pace with the international marketing trends the infrastructural facilities also needed to be upgraded. He said that the apple produce was being marketed to a number of foreign countries after getting the same re-graded. He said that with the setting up of the new apple packaging plant, the produce could be marketed straight to any market the world over since the quality packing of the produce with cargo safety would be ensured with the new system. He said that the state government would explore the possibilities of entering into joint venture in public private participation for setting up of the proposed plant in the apple growing areas of the state. He said that almost half of the districts of the state were growing apple and of latest innovations the cultivation of apple had been possible in the warmer areas as well. He said that efforts were afoot to bring more area under fruit cultivation by providing them high yielding rootstock to help state emerge as the 'Fruit Bowl of India' in coming few years.

Chief Minister said that the state was keenly interested in upgrading its marketing infrastructure, which also included the innovative packaging system of apple crop. He said that there was also necessity to adopt the similar system for marketing the other fruits and vegetable out of the state. He said that Himachal Pradesh was fast emerging as off-season vegetable grower state, which besides feeding the markets during the off-season was also instrumental in boosting the farm income. He directed the concerned authorities to study the proposal closely and explore the possibility of setting up of the modern packaging plant in the state for the automatic packing of the farm produce.

Shri Narender Bragta, Horticulture Minister said that the state government had established grading centres in different locations where mechanical grading was being undertaken. He said that the same technique had gone obsolete with the emergence of modern efficient and accurate grading system. He said that the departmental officers would be studying the proposal of the New Zealand and take further action accordingly. He said that keeping in view the increasing apple yield with every passing year the plant could be useful for the growers of the state.Paul Vaughan, Trade Commissioner, New Zealand High Commission detailed the features of the new packing machine and its capacity to deliver the goods within a limited time frame. He said that New Zealand was keen to actively involve itself with the trading activities of Himachal Pradesh and to begin with, the apple packing venture collaboration was a step directed towards the same.Robert of New Zealand gave the presentation of the machine and said that the plant would be capable to process 1.5 tonnes of apple per hour and carry colour sorting, density grading, blemish sorting, single, dual and multi lane sorting, volume of loose filling, bagging etc. simultaneously. He said that it had the capacity to sort out the rotten stuff as well.