Dr.Banarsi Lal and Dr. Vikas Tandon
India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world after China. India contributes 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 covers only 6.1 per cent of gross cropped area but it contributes 18.8 per cent of gross value of agricultural output. Thus, 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 an urgent need to increase the production of fruits and vegetables.
There is an urgent need to focus 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 very 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 appropriate varieties of crops and agronomic practices to suit reclaimed wastelands and dry land region in the country.(c)Adoption of cost effective poly house 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, fruit peeler, 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.
Use of organic manures and biological fertilizers helps in restoring soil health, reducing quantity and cost of chemical fertilizers. Awareness on 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 a low 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 40 percent.
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 infucktructures. 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 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, providing Kisan Credit Cards, providing post-harvest facilities and linking the growers with the Agricultural Universities for demonstration of proven technology.
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