HORTICULTURE SECTOR IN INDIA

The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India, with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly favourable for growing a large number of horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector within agriculture. It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional security and have ample scope for farmers to increase their income and helpful in sustaining large number of agro-based industries which generate huge employment opportunities. The achievement in the development of horticulture is laudable, as the sector now contributes more than 30.5 per cent to GDP of agriculture and has maintained the growth rate of more than 5 per cent during the last two decades. Production base of horticultural crops has increased considerably as compared to the situation of 1950-51. Area under horticulture crops has increased from 12.77 million ha in 1991-92 to 20.95 million ha in 2009-10, while the production from 96.52 million tonnes (1991-92) to 220.87 million tonnes during 2009-10. India is the second largest producer of fruits in the world, it the largest producer of fruits like mango, banana, papaya, sapota, pomegranate and aonla. In terms of productivity of grapes, India ranks first in the world. India occupies the second position in the production of brinjal, cabbage, cauliflower and onion and third in potato and tomato in the world. Vegetables that are produced in abundance are potato, tomato, brinjal, okra, cucurbits, etc. India has made noticeable advancement in the production of flowers, particularly cut flowers, which have a high potential for exports. India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices and spice products in the world. Over 100 plants spices are known to yield spices and spice products among which around 50 are grown in India. The most significant development that happened in the last decade is that horticulture has moved from rural confines to commercial production and this changing scenario has encouraged private sector investment in production system management. The last decade has seen technological infusion like micro-irrigation, precision farming, greenhouse cultivation, and improved post harvest management. IMPORTANT INITIATIVES FOR HORTICULTURE DEVELOPMENT a) National Horticulture Mission National Horticulture Mission was launched during the year 2005-06 with objective of providing holistic growth to the horticulture sector through an area based, regionally differentiated strategy, supply of quality planting material, production and productivity improvement, technology promotion, extension, post harvest management and marketing. b) Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States This Mission was launched during the financial year 2001-02 to achieve overall development of horticulture in 8 States to harness the potential that exists in the North East region. The Scheme was further extended to three other hilly States namely Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand during 2003-04. c) National Bamboo Mission The National Bamboo Mission was launched in 2006-07 as a Centrally Sponsore Scheme to promote the growth of bamboo sector. The programmes address four major areas of bamboo development namely (i) Research and Development, (ii) Plantation Development, (iii) Handicrafts Development and (iv)Marketing. d) Micro Irrigation The main objective of this Scheme is to increase the coverage of area under improved methods of irrigation in the country for better water use efficiency and to provide stimulus to growth in the agriculture sector. e) Central Institute for Horticulture (CIH) Nagaland Recognizing the importance of institutional support for the development of horticulture in the North East region, the establishment of a Central Institute of Horticulture in Nagaland, has been approved for implementation in 2005-06. The thrust areas for the Institute are (i) refinement / demonstration of identified technologies specific for the region, (ii) production and supply of quality seed and planting material of improved/high yielding varieties and (iii) training of state department officials and field functionaries in selected aspects of horticulture development including post harvest management, processing and value addition.