Shimla, Dec 25 (AHN) The Congress government in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday condemned the Union government’s apple import policies, saying successive decisions taken by it reflected a clear “anti-farmer and anti-horticulture mindset” that is pushing the state’s apple growers towards economic uncertainty.

Responding to the reduction of duty on apples imported from New Zealand from 50 to 25 per cent under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), state Education Minister Rohit Thakur said the decision amounted to a direct betrayal of all apple orchardists, including Himachal.

He said the apple cultivation is the backbone of the state’s hill economy and any policy that weakens domestic growers is a direct attack on the livelihood of lakhs of families dependent on horticulture.

He said the Centre had repeatedly assured apple growers of protection, but those assurances remained unfulfilled.

Thakur, in a statement here, pointed out that the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) share for culled apples and other agricultural and horticultural produce, which was introduced by the previous Congress government as a centrally-sponsored scheme, was discontinued by the Modi government from 2023 onwards by withdrawing the Centre’s financial share.

He said the Centre drastically reduced its budgetary provision in the Union budget for MIS from about Rs 4,000 crore in 2022-23 to a token Rs one lakh in 2023-24, making meaningful implementation of the scheme impossible.

He said this decision deprived growers of a vital safety net, particularly for cull fruit, and clearly reflects the Centre’s anti-horticulture policy.

Despite severe financial stress, natural calamities and a difficult economic situation inherited from the past, the state government continued to stand firmly with apple growers, the minister said, adding even in the absence of any Central assistance, the state has released nearly Rs 160 crore from its own limited resources for the procurement of cull apples under MIS in the past three years.