Himachal apple belt with green poly houses and nets galore, to protect apple trees from hailstones

From the archive record

The hillside is so chock full of plastic green poly houses and nets to protect apple orchards from hail stones in early spring, when the apple trees have blossom or young fruit on them, and the hail tends to destroy the entire season's crop in one go. Looking like enormous moth cocoons or strange shelters of sorts, these polyhouses have been created to restore Himachal's place as the top producer of apples in India. Theog, Kotkhai and Jubbal are the top apple producing zones. Apples are grown across the hill state. However, upper parts of Shimla district, including Jubbal Kotkhai, produce 70 per cent of apple produce in Himachal. The apple economy runs into Rs 4,000 crore in Himachal with around 1.5 lakh families associated with it, mainly in Shimla, Kullu and Kinnaur districts. Source - T