Horticulturists of Indora, the area known as the Nagpur of Himachal due to its kinnow production, are on the verge of uprooting their orchards. A survey in the area revealed that uncertain climate had destroyed mango and kinnow crops in the area.

Farmers said though the climate change had been taking a toll on their orchards for the past seven years, this year had been bad in particular.

Last year, the crop in the area was destroyed by frost. The frost even dried up many mango trees. This year there was good crop. However, the recent rain damaged the crops.

The farmers have suffered heavy losses. The only compensation that has come the farmers way in the past few years is that the state government decided not to charge the land revenue surcharge from them. However, enquiries revealed that this compensation came to just Rs 5 lakh for all horticulturists of Kangra district.

The panchayat pardhan of Indora said earlier the Indora area, that borders Punjab, was known for mango and kinnow orchards. However, due to continued losses, many farmers were now abandoning or uprooting their orchards and going for traditional crops of wheat and paddy. The future of farmers even with these crops was uncertain as there was no perennial source of irrigation in the area and crops were dependent on rain that was uncertain.

Farmers alleged that the focus of successive governments in the state was on protecting apple growers. Nobody was concerned about horticulturists of lower areas. Most of the subsidies were provided to the apple growers, they alleged. They alleged that officials of the Horticulture Department did not brief them regarding the latest schemes floated by the government. He said the orchards of Indora could be saved if the government provided them the irrigation facility.

Enquiries from the department revealed that there were schemes in which farmers going in for new orchards were being offered 80 per cent subsidy. However, most farmers in the area had no knowledge regarding the schemes. There were also huge subsidies for installing the drip irrigation system in the orchards.