Scenario Of Horticulture

Scenario Of Horticulture

Scenario Of Horticulture

  • India is one of the leading producers of horticultural crops in the Globe.
  • Horticultural crops cover 13.08 % of the total area under agriculture and contribute to about 28 % of the GDP.
  • These crops accounts for 37 % of the total exports of agricultural commodities.
  • Due to planned emphasis laid on horticulture, India is accredited as the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables,
  • India is the largest producer and consumer of cashew nut, tea and spices.
  • Third largest producer of coconut.
  • Fourth largest producer and consumer of rubber.
  • Sixth largest producer of coffee in the world.
  • India exports fruits, vegetables, processed products, flowers, seeds and planting materials, spices, cashew nut, tea, coffee etc.
  • During 2005-06, the value of export material was worth Rs.1, 24,175 million. During the year, export of cashew nut was dominantly higher followed by spices, tea and coffee.

Fruits:

  • India is the largest producer of mango, banana, grape and litchi. However, the bulk of the production is consumed domestically.
  • Of the total global exports for fruits, India‗s share is only 0.3%.
  • Fruits accounts for about 11% of total horticultural export from country.
  • Grape and mango together constitute 60% of India‘s exports of fresh fruits.
  • Citrus, banana, apple and papaya are other important fruits for export.

Vegetables:

  • During the year 2005-06, the export of fresh vegetables was of the order of Rs 919.8 crore.
  • Onion accounts for maximum share in exports trade.
  • Other major vegetables are tomato, potato, bean, pea, mushroom, asparagus, capsicum and okra.

Floriculture:

  • In floriculture, cut flowers alone account of 86% of the total trade in this sector.
  • Dried flowers and other plant parts are other prominent commodities.

Processed products:

  • Of the total horticultural trade, processed fruits and vegetables account for 20% and 17% respectively.
  • Among the processed fruits, fruits juice and dried fruits contribute to 41% and 12% of trade respectively.
  • Mango pulp, pickles and chutneys of various fruits remain in high demand in export trade.
  • Among processed vegetables, mushrooms, gherkins, dehydrated onion and frozen pre-cut vegetables are important items.

Spices:

  • World trade in spices has been estimated of the magnitude of 7.5 lakh metric tonnes valued at Rs 1650 million US$.
  • Indian spices command 43% share in volume and 31% in value of the world trade (2005-06).
  • These commodities account for more than 5% of the total agricultural export earnings in the country.
  • Value added spices are in large demand in export trade and their share is 60% of total export under spices.

Seeds and planting materials:

  • The country exports seed and planting materials of fruits and vegetables.
  • The export of these commodities was of the order of Rs.63 crores during the year 2004-05

Medicinal and aromatic plants:

  • The country has its credits of exporting herbal material raw drugs to world market.
  • Before 2005, Indian export of herbal material was worth Rs. 446 crore. China export in this regard has been worked out of the tune of Rs.18, 000-22,000 crore. Aloe veera, belladonna, acrus, cinchona, Cassia tora, dioscorea, senna, isbgol, etc., hold prominence in export trade under the sector.

Cashew nut:

  • During the year 2004-05, cashew nut kernels worth Rs.2709 crore were exported.
  • At present, the country exports about 1.27 lakh metric tonnes of cashew kernels worth Rs. 2500 crore.

Tea:

  • Until 1987-88, India was dominant exporter of tea in the world market.
  • The share of tea in total agricultural export was 20.7%.
  • In view of stiff competition from Sri Lanka, Kenya, China tea export from the country has been divided down.
  • At present share of tea in total agricultural export has been merely 5%.

Coffee:

After petroleum, coffee is the second largest commodity in the world trade. From India, 70% of the total production of coffee is exported.

Coconut:

  • The recent trends in the exports of coconut products witness decrease in export of copra and copra meal.
  • There has been moderate increase in coconut oil, desiccated coconut and shell charcoal while
  • There is significant increase in coco chemicals, activated carbon, coir and coir products.
  • Coir and coir products are major coconut based commodities in the export basket.

Rubber:

  • The country exports natural rubber.
  • Under this sector, it accounts for 1.1% of the global share.
  • The export of natural rubber rose from 6995 metric tonnes in 2001-02 to 75,905 metric tonnes during 2003-04.

Cocoa:

  • India exports cocoa products.
  • During the year 2005-06, India earned foreign exchange worth Rs.24.80 crore out of export of cocoa beans/products.

Imports

There is rise in the imports of certain commodities.

Commodities like dried pea, apples, apple juice, dried vegetable, black pepper, raw cashew nut, areca nut, cocoa etc., are important items imports by India.

In spice sector, India is leading producer but bulk of its production is utilized domestically itself.

In cashew nut production scenario, the country produces 5.4 lakh tonnes of raw cashew nuts, as against the requirement of 11-12 lakh tonnes per annum to feed out 1700 cashew processing units.

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