Present status, scope and future needs for mechanization of apple cultivation in mountains of Himachal Pradesh, India.

A study was conducted to find out the present status and level of mechanization in different operations as carried out in apple cultivation. It was observed that most of these operations are performed manually by hand using traditional tools. Land preparation with spade (0.002 ha/h), pit digging with spade (3 to 4 pits/day of size 1x1x1 m), basin preparation with spade (2-4 basin/h), pruning by secateurs/pruner (1-2 plants/h) and harvesting by hand (12-15 kg h-1person-1) resulted in very low efficiency thus increase the cost of operation and drudgery and ultimately reduces the net returns to the growers. The bottlenecks in mechanization are due to undulating topography, small and scattered land holdings, lack of approach roads and lack of awareness among the farmers. In spite of these, there is a tremendous scope to mechanize various practices in apple cultivation in hills of Himachal Pradesh through improved and suitable mechanization technology so that the apple grower s may be benefited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]