There seems to no end to the woes of Apple growers of Himachal Pradesh as after the crash of the market, now the flying mammals - bats that play a critical role in controlling the pests are now swarming the orchards in Rohru and Jubbal-Kotkhai areas, the areas popularly called Apple bowl of India.
Bat raids in the orchards across the apple bowl have escalated this week with reports of attack on high-return apple varieties causing immense loss to the growers, who are left clueless on the night raid with no solution at sight.
“The frequency of bat attacks in the Apple orchards has increased manifold in the past one week and is damaging the fruit already in the trees,” said Roshan lal Negi a fruit grower of Rohru who had witnessed the bat attack in his orchard. Negi said, “It appears that bats have migrated from other areas, where they are getting scarce food.”
Since state is witnessing the apple picking season at its peak, fruit growers are now engaged in Apple picking in their orchards and transporting the fruits to the market. The fruit bats are attacking the orchards to feed on ripe apples and are leaving scar mark on the shiny skin of the fruit which is reducing its market value.
The bats are also forcing apple dropping, which further leaves a mark and reduces the market value of the fruit. People of Rohru and Jubbal-Kotkhai are now spending sleepless nights to guard their valuable orchards and are engaged in night patrol to thwart any fruit bat raids. Negi says that around 25 percent apple produce has been destroyed and to protect the produce they are forced to do early picking. “I am spending sleepless nights, alongwith my family members but still I am unable to thwart the raids as the number of bats is very high,” added Negi who was in Shimla to visit the horticulture department seeking a remedy to the problem.
Reports of fruit bat raids are also coming to the horticulture department and most of the reports of such attacks are emerging from the rural areas of Rohru and Jubbal and Kotkhai. A villager from Bakherna village also has claimed that his orchard is also being raided by bats and had informed the department that the number of bats was in thousands.
Villagers get tormented as soon as they see the flapping sound of wings of bat in the night. Apple growers of the area are claiming that colonies of bats can be noticed on the trees growing along banks of river Pabbar and its tributary, Skhikri Khad. Not only the surrounding areas of Rohru town are being raided by bats but the attacks of flying mammals have now escalated on fruits in Bral and Jharag villages, which are known for quality apple production.
This comes at a time when with slowing of economy of the country, Apple market of the state is facing a very tough situation and each carton of apple of 20 kg is selling not more than Rs. 1000 as against the Rs. 1500- Rs. 1600 last year. BJP and CPM had recently launched an agitation in the apple bowl blaming the government for crash of market. Both the parties are demanding a policy to safeguard the interest of apple growers and alleging government apathy.
Horticulture expert from Entomology department of Horticulture and Forestry University Nauni, R S Rana said “fruit bat is a gregarious species with a normal group size of about 200-300 and they makes seasonal migration even up to 15km-20 km in search of food and attack apple orchards in the night.
He added that although there was no study done on this issue so far, but these bats are light deterrent and if problem reaches a severe level, farmers could choose killing of these mammals like done during 60’s when the area witnessed the problem for first time. “Gun shots or crackers are fired in night or beating drum could stop bats from settling on trees,” said Rana adding that loud noise can scare away the bats.
Studies conducted by the Zoological Survey of India show that Himachal Pradesh is host to nearly 24 species of bats. These include the great Himalayan horseshoe bat, the intermediate horseshoe bat, the great Himalayan leaf-nosed bat and the Schreiber's long-fingered bat.