Last Updated: October 01, 2024

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                    CSKHPKV – Highland Agriculture Research Sub Station,  Lari is situated in Spiti Valley of Lahul & Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh at an altitude of about 3250 m.a.s.l  with latitude  32⁰ 04^’ 21^’’  to  32⁰ 04^’ 49^’’ N and  longitude 78⁰ 25^’ 51^’’ to  78⁰ 25^’ 92^’’ E on the left bank of Spiti river. The station was established on October, 11 1987  and became functional from April, 1988 with the transfer of land and other infrastructure from Desert Development Project, Kaza. Total area of the station is 16.7 ha, out of which about 2.0 ha is under buildings, polyhouses and roads, 4.5 ha under apple orchard, 2.0 ha under field experiment. About 5.0 ha developed recently but not under cultivation due to non availability of irrigation facility and the remaining area is undeveloped.

 It represents typical cold desert conditions of North Western Himalayas. The Spiti valley is characterized with sloppy desert high mountains, loose soil strata prone to erosion. Soil is silty-loam in texture with shallow base. Cold desert winds are peculiar and mercury goes down to -25 to -40⁰C during winter. Average rainfall in the valley is 100-150 mm. Very heavy precipitation occurs in the form of snow (100-200cm) during winter. Due to fast evaporation and typical soil structure, the fields need frequent irrigation and cultivation is possible only under assured irrigation conditions.

 The main cropping season of this area is between May to middle of October. During winter, area remains cut off from rest of the world for more than six months due to high snowfall.