Increased focus on horticulture crops could be a win-win formula for the government to accomplish its endeavor in nutritional security as well as increasing farmers’ income. Elaborate (200 Words)
Refer - Financial Express
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 4 years
KEY POINTS
· India is now self-sufficient in foodgrain production and is the largest global producer of farm products like pulses, jute, buffalo meat, milk, and poultry. It is also is the second-largest producer of several horticulture products, especially fruit and vegetables.
· The area under horticulture crops increased to 25.5 million hectare in 2018-19, which is 20% of the total area under foodgrain, and produced 314 million tonnes. However, the area under total foodgrain declined from 129 million hectare in 2016-17 to 124 million hectare in 2018-19.
· Horticulture crops are characterised by high-value crops, higher productivity per unit of area and lower requirement of irrigation and input cost.
· Similarly, the value of horticultural export too increased from approximately Rs 8,000 crore to Rs 63,700 crore, and the value of foodgrain export increased from Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 58,600 crore during the same period. The value of export of horticultural products is much higher than the value of exports of foodgrain in the total agricultural export value, except for the year 2007-08.
· In a nutshell, 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.
· Recently, the government announced Rs 1 lakh crore support for agriculture infrastructure development, especially for cold storage, warehousing and markets for farmers. This will certainly benefit farmers to increase their income directly or indirectly.
