Senior horticultural scientist Chiranjit Parmar’s efforts to cultivate apples in warm tropical regions is beginning to yield results.Parmar, a native of Himachal Pradesh, was inspired after witnessing apple cultivation in Batu of Indonesia, a region which lies on the Equator.
He realised his dream when progressive farmers like Krishna Shetty of Hirebandady came forward to grow apple plants.Meanwhile, apple plants were distributed to farmers in Tumkur, Sringeri and surrounding places.Parmar discussed on future possibilities of apple cultivation with interested farmers at Inland Avenue building at Ballalbagh on Saturday. He said a person in Bangalore had grown an apple tree on his terrace. Based on this initial success, cultivation of apple can be extended country-wide. Like other deciduous plants, apple tree also grows in phases. The plant when active bears flowers and fruits and when dormant it shed its leaves. Krishna Shetty, who has grown apple plants in his farm at Hirebandady, says that he had samplings procured from Himachal Pradesh.First he distributed the plants to 13 farmers. A year ago, he distributed 1,250 saplings to farmers. Now he intends to distribute 2,000 saplings after May.