Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare inaugurated the new Centre of National Horticulture Board (NHB) at Gwalior in the state of Madhya Pradesh. 

NHB, which is mandated for integrated development of hi-tech commercial horticulture and post-harvest management/cold chain infrastructure in the country, is having centers /offices at various locations of the country and at least one center is there almost in each state for implementation, monitoring, and coordination of its various Schemes and activities.

LEARNING FROM HOME/ WITHOUT CLASSES/ BASICS

Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for the holistic growth of the horticulture sector covering fruits, vegetables, root & tuber crops, mushrooms, spices, flowers, aromatic plants, coconut, cashew, and cocoa.

MIDH consists of 5 schemes on Horticulture viz. (i) National Horticulture Mission (NHM), (ii) Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States (HMNEH), (iii) National Horticulture Board (NHB), (iv) Coconut Development Board (CDB), (v) Central Institute of Horticulture (CIH), Nagaland.

National Horticulture Mission (NHM): This Centrally Sponsored Scheme was launched in the year 2005-06 and aims at the holistic development of the horticulture sector by ensuring forward and backward linkage through a cluster approach with the active participation of all stakeholders.

India has retained its status as the second-largest producer of fruits in the world.

The country is first in the production of fruits like mango, banana, papaya, lemon & lime.

India continued to be the second-largest producer of vegetables after China. India is the leader in the production of vegetables like okra.

Besides, India occupies the second position in the world in production of potato, tomato, onion, cabbage, cauliflower, and brinjal.  India is the largest producer, consumer, and exporter of spices and spice products.

The horticulture sector in India renders more opportunities in the sphere of employment across primary, secondary as well as tertiary sectors of Agriculture. The demand for water usage is at a low level, drastically lessens the crop failure risk or risks, and can occur in smaller farms.

CHALLENGES

The government has fixed no Minimum Support Price for Horticulture products.

There is a lack of sound transport network and scarcity of good cold chain storage, extending the life of perishable products has become a challenge.

Horticultural export is one of the vital challenges that hinder the progress of the Horticulture sector in India. Limited availability of market intelligence primarily for exports makes it the hardest decision to make.

WAY OUT

Improvement in quality seeds & plants, Imparting the meaningful education related to Horticulture; to upscale youth knowledge regarding various government schemes and modern equipment and machinery.

As post-harvest management is known for increasing the shelf life of fruits, this should be the priority of policy makers.

Establishing a better long-distance transportation network should be a task of utmost importance to ensure smooth and hindrance-free transportation of fresh Horticultural produce

Horticulture production contributes more to crop production despite much lower land use and lower input cost. However, these crops require better infrastructure to prevent post-harvest crop losses, like cold storage and better warehousing, which will go a long way toward enhancing farmers’ income.