Reports say at least 200 fruit growers in Kullu district have taken up the cultivation of kiwi on commercial scale. The results have stunned the fruit-growers in adjacent districts of Mandi and Shimla, dominated by apple cultivation.

Last August Gopal Mehta, an innovative farmer from Shimla’s apple belt of Kotgarh-Thanedar, went to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal with a box of mangoes grown in his orchard. Today, a grower from Kullu followed suit with kiwi grown in Banjar, an interior area of Kullu.

There are others too who have taken to kiwi, a trans-climactic hybrid fruit. Neel Kamal Thakur, a resident of Patan village, now grows kiwi at a height of 8,500 feet, where farmers were finding it tough to sustain the apple crop. This economically backward area has also taken up the cultivation of off-season vegetables and other new fruit crops, to boost the economy.

Banjar still lacks proper irrigation facilities, and some of its farthest belts lag, where development is concerned. Dhumal has hailed Thakur’s initiative, and has assured that the government will provide all required facilities to fruit growers to use modern technology and inputs for cultivation of high-value fruits like pomegranate, kiwi, cherry, mangoes, peach, apricot, almonds and strawberry.

Dhumal noted that recently, a progressive farmer from the temperate zone of Ghumarwin had successfully grown apple. And another farmer in the sub-tropical zone of Kotkhai had cultivated mango, rich in both taste and colour.

In Kullu, Daljeet Singh, a 52-year-old post-graduate who opted for farming two decades ago, has emerged as a leading pomegranate producer, in addition to kiwi. He has also motivated over 200 farmers in the area to produce pomegranate and kiwi, along with apricot, pears and apples.

The chief minister said the state will strengthen the marketing infrastructure, set up controlled atmospheric stores, and introduce post-harvest technologies. He also appealed the growers to go in for organic farming practices and brand the produce as “organic” produce.