Hindustan Times - 28 February 2026
Apple farmers’ body demands scrapping of India-US trade deal
The AFFI said it will mobilise apple growers and farmers from Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand for this protest.
The AFFI also termed the India-US trade agreement as total annihilation as import tariffs of Washington apples has been reduced from 50 percent cent to nil under the India-US interim bilateral trade agreement.
“This trade agreement, which is clearly an unequal treaty, is a major surrendering of India’s economic interests by PM Narendra Modi and will prove a death knell for apples domestically produced in the country,” convener AFFI and legislator Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said, adding that to protest this move, the AFFI will mobilise apple farmers from Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and hold a demonstration outside the Parliament in March 2026.
“Allowing American apples with minimal import tariffs does not just bring another competitor to the domestic fruit market. The US 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 crores, implying a per capita subsidy of more than ₹ 21 lakh per US farmer.”
Tarigami said that the Union Agricultural Minister has remarked that these imports are necessary to cover the mismatch between domestic demand and supply of apples. “Our imports have climbed from 0.2 lakh metric tonnes (MT) to 6 lakh MT, from 1.7 per cent of domestic production to 22.5 per cent 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. Along with the US, duties on apples from New Zealand have been cut to 25 per cent, while those from the European Union have been reduced to 20 per cent. 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,” he added.
