Uma Partap 2001 31 minutes PAL/VHS version (VID22) An enchanting video showing apple production in valleys of the Hindu Kush Himalaya. For example, apples have been grown as a commercial cash crop in Himachal Pradesh in northern India since the 1950s. This had led to the economic transformation of many villages: the income has increased educational and living standards, and today Himachal's apple growing areas are prosperous by any standard. The video shows how farmers in Maoxian county of China have developed a technique for hand pollinating apple trees - a process involving the drying of apple flowers' anthers on electric blankets! Beekeepers in this area are reluctant to rent their colonies for pollination because of the heavy pesticide use. In India, farmers seek to improve pollination by picking bouquets of polliniser branches and hanging them near the trees to be pollinated. The film carries the warning that apple crops are declining: reasons include loss of pollinating insects, insufficient planting of polliniser tree varieties, and increasingly adverse weather conditions. This video is excellent for teaching about pollination requirements, and will fascinate beekeepers everywhere. Book also available (P185).