Apple farmers demand protection against import of fruits from U.S., to hold protest outside Parliament

Apple farmers from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh,and Uttarakhand, led by the Apple Farmers’ Federation of India (AFFI), have decided to protest outside Parliament during the second lap of the Budget Session in March to demand that the India-U.S. bilateral trade agreement be scrapped.

AFFI convener and Jammu and Kashmir MLA M.Y. Tarigami and co-convener Rakesh Singha condemned the “total annihilation of import tariffs” on Washington apples from 50% to nil under the India-U.S. interim bilateral trade agreement. “This trade agreement, which is clearly an unequal treaty, is a major surrendering of India’s economic interests by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will prove a death knell for apples domestically produced in the country. To protest this move, the AFFI will mobilise apple farmers from Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and hold a demonstration outside Parliament in March 2026,” they said in a statement.

The AFFI said allowing American apples with minimal import tariffs does not just bring another competitor to the domestic fruit market. “The U.S. federal government heavily subsidises the American farmer, including the orchardist. In 2026, it is forecasted that payouts to the agriculturists there would amount to ₹4 lakh crore, implying a per capita subsidy of more than ₹21 lakh per U.S. farmer,” they said, adding that Indian apple farmers were living in precarious conditions with fast-depleting state support and being pushed into an unequal battle with the heavily-supported rich U.S. farmers and agribusinesses.

“Our imports have climbed from 0.2 lakh metric tonnes (MT) to 6 lakh MT, from 1.7% of domestic production to 22.5% since 2000. At the same time, our exports — at just 21,700 MT — is behind even the 2004-05 figures when India exported 23,100 MT of apples. Duties on apples from New Zealand have been cut to 25%, while those from the European Union have been reduced to 20%. We agree that there is a gap of a few lakh metric tonnes between domestic production and consumption, but instead of supporting our growers to invest in their farms and improve their productivity, the government is trusting foreign farmers to cover the gap,” they added.