Jammu and Kashmir is predominantly an agriculture economy and 81.4 per cent of the total population still lives in rural area whose main occupation and means of livelihood is agriculture. It contributes nearly 60 per cent of the State revenue which adequately explains the over dependence of the State on agriculture. But one sector untapped is horticulture and floriculture. Seeing the economic viability and small holdings especially in hilly areas State Government should promote horticulture than the conventional foodgrains production. State has ideal climate conditions for winter as well as summer fruit production and it would help in providing better economic sustainability to the farmers who otherwise find agriculture less remunerative than other occupations. The better market reach and returns no doubt would also help in checking the seasonal migration of labour. At national level horticulture output has outpaced the production of foodgrains third year in a row in 2014-15 despite deficit monsoon, unseasonal rains and hailstorms. Besides, horticulture production also showed continuous increase unlike foodgrain output which reported a decline in 2014-15 as compared to 2013-14, according to the figures released by Agriculture Ministry. Maharashtra tops the list in terms of leading fruit-producing states, West Bengal is at top in terms of vegetable production, Tamil Nadu is the top flower producing while Gujarat is the leading spices producing state. Tamil Nadu is also at the top in the list of plantation-producing states in the same year. Horticultural crops comprise of fruits, vegetables, plantation crops, flowers, spices and aromatics, while the foodgrains basket contains wheat, rice, coarse cereals, oil seeds and pulses. Data shows that fruits and vegetables account for nearly 90 per cent of the total horticulture production in India which is, at present, the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. The country is, in fact, the leader in several horticultural crops including mango, banana, papaya, cashew nut, areca nut, potato and lady finger.
