Hoshiarpur: Traditionally limited to states like Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh, apple cultivation has now picked up pace in Punjab. Gurinder Singh Bajwa, a farmer from Ludhiana, is producing apples on a large scale in his farm in Chahal village in Hoshiarpur.

Working as an employee in a private firm which dealt with a spraying of chemicals on crops, Gurinder often on assignments, used to find himself in apple farms of Kashmir. "It made me wonder if growing apples on a large scale was possible in Punjab," he said.