Cerana No Honeybees Apples are the leading cash crop in mountain areas of the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region. They are grown in the hilly and mountain areas of the Indian Himalayas, Pakistan, China, western Nepal, and Bhutan. However, over the past few years, both apple productivity and quality are declining despite agronomic inputs. Farmers estimate that, during the past seven to eight years, the productivity has declined by 50 per cent.
Inadequate pollination is likely to be one of the main reasons.
Preliminary information obtained through these studies revealed that lack of appropriate polliniser proportion, scarcity of insect pollinators, and adverse climatic factors are the main factors causing pollination failures in apple crops in Himachal Pradesh. The information derived also shows that apple farmers have developed certain strategies, such as using flower bouquets and hiring honeybee colonies, manager pollination. Farmers also smoke or spray the orchards with clean water to increase the temperature in the orchard. In Maoxian County farmers have been carrying out hand pollination of each and every flower in their apple orchards for several years. A massive community-level exercise was undertaken in April.