Dr Banarsi Lal
Horticulture sector contributes significantly to the society in terms of healthy foods, vitamins, minerals and recreational activities. According to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India ranks second in fruits and vegetables in the world after China. India’s advantage lies in being a low-cost producer of fruits and vegetables because of combination of factors such as congenial agro-climatic conditions, availability of labour and low input costs. Horticulture contributes about 30.4 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while using only 13.1 per cent of the gross cropped area. Recently, the total horticulture production in India has even exceeded the total production of food grains. Horticulture contributes not only to the nutritional needs of the people but also creates additional employment opportunities and generates higher income of the farmers. The productivity of horticulture has increased substantially from 8.8 tonnes per ha in 2001-02 to 12.10 tonnes per ha in 2020-21.In 2021-22,the total horticulture production was about 341.63 million tones ,with fruit production at around 107.10 million tones and vegetables production at about 204.61 million tones. There is an ample opportunity for export with fresh fruits and vegetables being a major contributor. But despite the fact that India’s horticulture sector is growing, the country’s share in global trade remains insignificant accounting for only 1 per cent of the global trade in fruits and vegetables. There are production challenges, inadequate transport infrastructure, fragmented supply chains and insufficient storage facilities. Small size of land holding, lack of irrigation facilities and poor soil management are the major challenges in production of fruit crops. The limited outreach of farm insurance and farm mechanization combined with a lack of institutional credit for small and marginal farmers, contribute to lower investment in this sector. Climate change such a floods, droughts, changing weather patterns and other natural disasters is another challenge that sometimes leads to crop failures. Horticulture marketing chain faces its own set of challenges due to the perishable nature of fruits and vegetables. Lack of cold storage and warehousing facilities contribute to delays and wastages of fruits and vegetables. About 15-20 per cent of the fruits and vegetables in India area wasted contributing to greenhouse gas emissions (CHGs). Despite the numerous constraints faced by the horticulture sector, there are several opportunities for improvement. The Indian Government is working on reducing crop losses through the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) which provides comprehensive crop insurance coverage from pre-sowing to post-harvest loses against non-preventable natural risks. Another key initiative is the Centre’s Cluster Development Programme which has the potential to revolutionise the value chain by enhancing its scale. This programmes helps to promote the integrated and market-led development of pre-production, production, post-harvest, branding and marketing activities by leveraging the geographical specialization of horticulture clusters.
India contributes about 10 and 13.4 per cent of fruits and vegetables in the world. India is the largest producer of mango and banana in the world producing 65 and 11 per cent of mango and banana of the world. India is the largest producer of cauliflower in the world. India is second in onion production and third in cabbage production in the world. India’s varied climate is suitable for the cultivation of more than 30 fruit trees and 40 vegetables. Horticulture is important in creating the employment, enhancing the profits and providing the nutritional and economic security to the farmers. It is estimated that 6.7 per cent growth rate in horticulture sector is must in order to achieve 4.0 per cent growth rate of agriculture. Government of India has strengthened the research and development activities in the horticulture sector. There is an increase in the demand of fruits and vegetables. So there is need to increase the production of fruits and vegetables. There is need to strengthen our research and development efforts on increasing the production, productivity and quality of fruits and vegetables, besides paying undivided attention to reduce the cost of production. Declining shares of fruits and vegetables in terms of area and production and exports in horticulture and plantation crops need to be arrested. We should utilize our research and development to increase the fruits and vegetables production. In order to increase the production, productivity and quality of produce and reduction in the cost of production, our research institutes/centers have identified certain key areas and have generated current knowledge in this area which needs to be transferred to the farmers in a systematic way so that farmers are enabled to increase the area under fruits and vegetables, adopt the scientific technology, use the optimum inputs and achieve the demand of fruits and vegetables. Production of fruits and vegetables can be increased by increasing the area and by applying the scientific production technology. It is difficult to increase the area under these crops but still there is possibility to increase the area by adopting the methods such as(a) By utilization of land through inter-cropping/mixed cropping in existing orchards, growing crops in the vacant areas and growing shade loving crops.(b)Development of suitable varieties of crops and agronomic practices to suit reclaimed wastelands and dry land region in the country.(c)Adoption of cost effective polyhouse technology.(d)High density planting by reduction in planting by reduction in planting distance or by use of plant growth inhibitors and dwarfing rootstocks in crops like mango,citrus,banana,apple and some other fruits.(e)Use of protected cultivation under controlled conditions for growing fruits like strawberry and some vegetables. Productivity can be increased by bringing maximum possible area in a systematically drawn plan of five years under high yielding or rejuvenating the already existing orchards along with full package of scientific practices. This will help in improving the quality of produce and reduction in the cost. In the conventional methods of crop improvement both desirable and detrimental genes get transferred from parents. The modern biotechnology system helps to insert single or more than two desirable genes into the crop. Traits can be modified through the genetic engineering that helps to increase productivity and improve the nutritional quality. This technique helps production of uniform size, shape, size and colour of products. Micro-propagation is the most popular technique for production in the world and supply of identical plants. Propagation technique through tissue culture and molecular indexing for culture of diseases are immense use in making available healthy planting material. Micro propagation protocol has been developed in banana, grape, ginger, turmeric, strawberry and betel vine. Farm mechanization now-a-days is very much helpful in reducing the labour cost and conducting timely farm operations and efficiently. For mechanizing cultivation of some fruits and vegetables some implements have been designed for distribution to the horticultural crops growers. The implements such as mango harvesters, potato diggers, automatic potato planter, potato ridger, potato grader, soil crust breaker, fruitpeeler, fertilizer application-cum-line marker etc. are very important for the horticultural crops growers. These equipments must be widely demonstrated to the fruit growers to establish their suitability, cost-effectiveness etc. and then make them available. Integrated pest and disease management aims at judicious use of plant protection methods viz. cultural, biological, chemical, physical/mechanical or regulatory control methods. Biological control assumes significant importance and calls for the development of natural enemies tolerant to multi-pesticidal groups. Integrated nutrient management refers to maintenance of soil fertility and plant nutrient supply to an optimum level for sustaining the desired crop productivity. It aims at achieving the highest level of productivity with efficiency at economically acceptable limits in environment friendly way. Use of organic manures and biological fertilizers helps in restoring soil health, reducing quantity and cost of chemical fertilizers. Awareness on natural farming and biological nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilizers and micorrhizal fungi must be created among the farmers. Micro-irrigation and fertigation techniques must be popularized among the farmers. Under this system, water is applied at allow rate for a longer period at frequent intervals. It has been successively tried in banana, mango, pomegranate, citrus, cucumber, okra, brinjal etc. Now emphasis must be given to apply the fertilizers through micro-irrigation. Micro-irrigation and fertigation helps to save the fertilizers up to 30 per cent and save water up to 70 percent. Moreover this system helps to prevent the growth of weeds, saves energy and improves quality of produce. Greenhouse technology is a capital intensive, sophisticated and high-precision technology which facilitates intensive cultivation of vegetables throughout the year. Greenhouse technology can modify the environment for optimum plant growth and production of uniform and high quality produce. Fan and pad cooled greenhouses are suited for hot and dry climate and heating system greenhouses are suited in cold climate. In greenhouse technology wind and thermal buoyancy obviates the need for electric power or generators for maintenance of temperature and relative humidity. This technology should be demonstrated to the Indian farmers. This technology is more suited for the cultivation of vegetables in the Northern hilly regions during summer season. Organic farming contributes in improving the quality of fruits and vegetables which have potential export market. Major components of organic farming are addition of organic manures, adoption of crop rotations and enhancement of soil fertility through biological fixation of nitrogen. Crop residues are utilized to make compost along with farm-yard manure and biogas slurry. Incorporation of green manure or green leaf manure helps to convert the crop residues into the organic matter in the soil. Insects-pests can be controlled by the combination of crop rotations, inter-crops, mechanical cultivation and use of biological pest control. Proper post-harvest management reduces the post-harvest losses by proper handling and packaging and adoption of suitable low cost storage infrastructures. Use of pre-cooling units, controlled atmosphere and refrigerated containers is recommended to increase the shelf life of horticultural crops. Indian farmers need to improve the quality of crops to make them qualitatively competitive in world market. There is need to establish the quality control laboratories to ensure the exporters that commodities being exported get international standards. In order to boost the horticulture crops production state/UTs governments need to prepare a vision and mission on horticultural crops, define states role clearly and mobilize the financial resources to invest in this sector. Agricultural universities should take lead role in providing the proven technical guidelines to the horticultural crops growers and demonstrate effectiveness of technologies on growers’ fields for adoption. Adequate and timely credit aid by financial institutions/banks is called through proper estimation of credit at growers/village level, assisting Self Help Groups (SHGs), Farmers Producer Organizations'(FPOs), providing Kisan Credit Cards, providing post-harvest facilities and linking the growers with the Agricultural Universities for demonstration of proven technology. By the introduction of new interventions horticulture sector can expand even further and generate more income for the farmers. A participatory-based approach is one of the effective ways to develop solutions in collaboration with local horticultural crops producers and to promote technology adoption.
(The writer is Sr. Scientist & Head, KVK, Reasi, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology-Jammu).