00:00An apple tree doesn't stand a chance against Alternaria fungi.
00:05The leaves wither and fall, and the apples are ruined.
00:09A disaster for apple farmers like Adarsh Kumar.
00:13The 64-year-old lost almost 75% of his harvest to the parasite this year.
00:26It's never happened before.
00:28This is the first year I have faced this.
00:32All the leaves turned brown and spotted from one day to the next.
00:39Himachal Pradesh is known as the apple state.
00:43Orchards are protected against the force of the sun with white tarps.
00:48With its cool climate and fertile soil, conditions here in the north of India are ideal.
00:54And some 500,000 farmers work in apple cultivation.
01:00But this year, nothing helped against the Alternaria fungi.
01:04And 60% of harvests were lost.
01:11Scientist Usha Sharma from the Krishi Vigyan Kendra Farm Science Centre says, the winter
01:17was simply too warm and dry.
01:20There was far too little snow.
01:27Along with warmer temperatures, we are also seeing more pests and disease.
01:33Right now, you're seeing an increased occurrence of Alternaria in high-altitude areas.
01:41The main reasons are the drought conditions that we had in winter that stressed the plants.
01:50After a winter with little snow, spring brought heavy rain showers, hailstorms and flooding.
01:57Perfect conditions for fungi.
02:01Many farmers tried to protect their harvests with chemical pesticides, including Adarsh Kumar.
02:08Ever since his trees were hit with apple scab in the 1980s, he has been treating his fruit
02:13with more and more fungicides.
02:19We have been using fungicides and pesticide sprays ever since.
02:23Initially, we sprayed the crops six to seven times per season.
02:26But now, we spray up to 15 to 20 times per season.
02:31He is not alone.
02:33These days, fewer farmers use organic fertilizer on their plantations, such as agricultural
02:38waste and cattle manure than in the past.
02:41As a result, the use of chemical fertilizers has almost doubled over the past 40 years.
02:48And that has consequences.
02:53The microbial population in the soil is decreasing because the more fertilizers are used, the
02:58more it's destroyed.
03:00This in turn reduces the nutrient uptake for the plants.
03:05At the Krishi Vigyan Kendra Farm Science Centre, Usha Sharma is retraining farmers in traditional
03:11regenerative agriculture.
03:13The scientists are convinced that this is the only way to increase yields in the long
03:18term.
03:19Last year alone, natural farming methods were introduced on around 600,000 acres of land
03:25in Himachal Pradesh.
03:30Pranav Rawat now does many things differently.
03:34The third-generation fruit farmer has an apple and pear plantation spanning almost 20 acres.
03:40His trees have managed to fight off fungal disease.
03:43His trick is to plant mustard between the apple trees.
03:47Mustard belongs to the brassica family.
03:55In winter, I plant brassica around the trees because it destroys the fungi at its roots.
04:05It doesn't like fungi.
04:09He also relies on different crop rotations and companion planting.
04:14In other words, he makes sure there aren't too many trees of one variety close together.
04:20That helps prevent pest infestation.
04:24A problem that we face is in monocropping.
04:30As with apple orchards, is that if one tree becomes diseased, this will soon spread to
04:35other trees.
04:38But in natural systems, pine trees might be close to oaks and the grass below is of
04:43different species, so pine will not transfer the diseases to oak.
04:50Pranav Rawat is convinced that diseases in agriculture cannot be combated with chemicals.
04:57He says that due to increasing resistance, more and more aggressive pesticides are needed
05:02for the crops over time.
05:06This is how the industry is growing and natural systems are ignored because they are less
05:11profitable.
05:12And the scientists aren't able to convince farmers to adapt.
05:16But we are forming communities to practice regenerative farming and learn how to control
05:21these problems naturally.
05:25Four years ago, Pranav Rawat launched a YouTube channel and now has close to 6,000 followers.
05:33These days, I post videos of what I am doing online, so other farmers can learn from my
05:42experience and try things out themselves.
05:47Adarsh Kumar knows that things can't go on like this.
05:50He'll soon be handing over his farm to his children.
05:54He now believes that they will only be able to live from apple farming if they switch
05:59to more sustainable practices.
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