Horticulture Sector of India

Context: Recently it was in the news that India is in its strategic journey to become a global Fruits and Vegetables (F&V) hub. There is a huge opportunity being created in the sector of Fruits & Vegetables not only for exports but also for domestic consumption.

What is Horticulture:

It is a branch of agriculture which involves the cultivation and sale of fruits, flowers, herbs, vegetables and ornamental plants and horticulture mainly focused on growing plants for human use.

Horticulture Sector: Significance in Indian Context –

Production:

Recently in India, the total horticulture production crossed the total food grain production of India. It shows the potentiality of the horticulture sector in India.

Economic Impact:

Horticulture uses only 13% of the gross cropped area of India and has become a significant player in India’s agricultural growth. And more interestingly, it uses only 13% gross cropped area but contributes around 30% to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country which is a very high percentage.

Notable Growth of productivity:

The horticulture productivity has increased enormously from 8.8 Tonnes per hector in 2001-02 to 12.1 TPHin 2020-21

Multi sectoral contribution of horticulture:

Horticulture contributes to the country in various ways such as

• Caters Nutritional Needs of the country.
• Creates additional job opportunities in rural areas.
• Range of agricultural activities are expanded.
• Generates higher incomes for farmers.

High Potentiality for Export:

Since horticulture has its vast production base, it enables it for large scale exports and become a major contributor of fresh fruits and vegetables in the international market.

Some of the Challenges faced by Horticulture in India

1.Major and traditional focus on Staple food crops:

Traditionally the agricultural practice and policies of India is more concentrated around staple food crops such as rice, wheat etc. which is obvious because of prevailing food security issues. But as a result of this, fruits, vegetables, spices like horticultural crops are quite neglected on a large scale.

2.Smaller divisional land holdings:

Indian agricultural land is significantly divided into small fragments which is a big obstruction in horticultural agriculture practice as it needs higher investment, knowledge, and technical expertise. Also, modern horticultural techniques could not be adopted due to lack of economies of scale.

Apart from the above challenges, here is the list of other challenges faced by horticulture in India.

• Risk and Return perceptions!
• Losses due to Infrastructure and Post-Harvest Activities
• Poor irrigation and soil management
• Market demand and market dynamics
• Specialized skill and knowledge gap
• Indian Climate
• Govt. Policy and support
• Limited global trading facilities
• Obstructions for the growth of Export

Initiatives by Govt. of India

The Govt. of India is taking lots of initiative for the development of horticultural agriculture in India. Some of them are as follows.

• Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture
• Horticulture Area Production Information System
• Coordinated Programme on Horticulture Assessment and Management using Geoinformatics.

Way Forward

Though horticulture in India has a great potential and the Govt of India is taking numerous steps for its development and implementation, still to fully realize the maximum potential of Horticulture in the agricultural sector of India, there needs to be a comprehensive approach which must address the above challenges.

Source: The Indian Express

UPSC Mains Practice Questions: 

Q. Assess the role of the National Horticulture Mission (NHM) in boosting the production, productivity, and income of horticulture farms. How far has it succeeded in increasing the income of farmers?(2018)

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