SHIMLA: Faced with an acute shortage of farm labour and escalating wages, an apple grower in Kotkhai area of Shimla district has turned to mechanisation to streamline orchard management. Sunil Chauhan has set up a petrol-driven monorail system to carry harvested apples directly from his orchard to the warehouse. The system, imported from China at a cost of approximately ₹4.20 lakh, runs on an elevated track and can operate on slopes of up to 45 degrees.
“The monorail can carry up to 500 kg. It can transport apple boxes, crates, manure, fertilisers, tools and many other things required for farm operations,” Chauhan said, adding that trial runs are currently underway and the system is operating smoothly.
Apple cultivation in Himachal Pradesh relies heavily on manual labour, including migrant workers from Nepal. However, mounting worker scarcity and rising wage costs have made orchard operations increasingly challenging for local growers.
Chauhan noted that while visiting major apple-producing nations like Italy, he observed that orchards are fully mechanised despite being significantly larger than those in India. Although steep terrain and small landholdings pose major hurdles to widespread mechanisation in the state, he believes even targeted technological interventions can yield major benefits.
“There is an agriculture fair in China where the latest tools and technologies in agriculture are displayed. I will visit the fair again to see what else we can get from there to make farm operations easier,” Chauhan remarked.
Having already laid 100 metres of track in his orchard, Chauhan plans to extend the line by another 200 metres across different locations and directions to substantially cut down his reliance on manual labour.
