Horticulture production in India on roll, grows 7% annually

New Delhi: India has witnessed voluminous increase in horticulture production over the last few years.  After the launch of National Horticulture Mission (NHM) in 2005-06, significant progress has been made in area expansion under horticulture crops resulting in higher production. Over the last decade, the area under horticulture grew at an average rate of 2.7 percent per annum and annual production increase at an average rate of 7.0 percent per annum. This was revealed by the Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Mr Parshottam Rupala in the Parliament on August 02, 2016.

For holistic growth of the horticulture sector covering fruits, vegetables, root and tuber crops, mushrooms, spices, flowers, aromatic plants, coconut, cashew, cocoa and bamboo, Government has launched Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme during XII Plan w.e.f. 2014-15. The Mission subsumes the earlier missions like National Horticulture Mission (NHM), Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States (HMNEH), National Bamboo Mission (NBM), National Horticulture Board (NHB), Coconut Development Board (CDB) and Central Institute for Horticulture (CIH), Nagaland.  All States and UTs are covered under MIDH.

The mission envisages production and productivity improvement of horticulture crops including fruits and vegetables through various interventions.  Activities such as production of planting material, vegetable seed production, coverage of area with improved cultivars, rejuvenation of senile orchards, protected cultivation, creation of water resources, adoption of Integrated Pests Management (IPM), Integrated Nutrients Management (INM), organic farming, including insitu generation of organic inputs are taken up for development of fruits and vegetables.  Capacity building of farmers and technicians are also provided for adopting improved technologies. Schemes also envisages creation of infrastructure for Post Harvest Management (PHM), Good Agricultural Prices (GAP), Centre for excellence for horticulture and marketing for holistic growth of horticulture sector.

(Credits: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare)