Horticulture outpaces food grains in production

There has been an increase of 1.3% in horticulture production and reduction of 4.9% in food grain production in 2014-15 as compared to 2013-14 The Dollar Business Bureau

Government has announced two schemes- Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Organic Value Chain Development in North East Region, to promote organic farming

Despite monsoon concerns, India’s horticulture production has outpaced food grain production over the last four-year period since 2012-13, said an official release on Friday. “There has been an increase of 1.3% in horticulture production and reduction of 4.9% in food grain production in 2014-15 as compared to 2013-14,” said the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Mohanbhai Kalyanjibhai Kundaria, on Friday. According to Horticulture statistical data, while horticulture production went on increasing during 2012-13 (268.85 MT) 2013-14(277.35 MT) and 2014-15 (280.99 MT) periods, food grain production during the corresponding periods witnessed a declining trend at 257.13 MT, 265.04 MT and 252.02 MT respectively, thus registering a year-on-year decrease and also an overall production decline compared to horticulture produce. It is noteworthy that the Centre has given utmost importance to Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in its budget, with an utmost priority to organic farming in specific. With a budgetary allocation of Rs. 35,984 crore for Agriculture and Farmers’ welfare, government announced to double farmers’ income by 2022. And to promote organic farming in specific, government has announced two schemes- Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana(PKVY) and Organic Value Chain Development in North East Region, with a budgetary allocation of Rs.412 crore. To extend marketing support post production, the Ministry of Agriculture has various marketing strategies to improve market connectivity to country’s agriculture produce. To ensure Unified National Market for agriculture commodities, “government has approved a scheme for setting up of National Agriculture Market (NAM) through Agri-Tech Infrastructure Fund (ATIF) in July, 2015, with a budget of Rs.200 crore and to be implemented during 2015-16 to 2017-18,” Mohanbhai informed Rajya Sabha on Friday. Under the scheme, NAM would be implemented through creation of an online platform, deployed at all regulated wholesale markets covering all those States that wish to join the platform. Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) will implement the national e-platform in 585 selected regulated markets and will cover 400 mandis in 2016-17 and 185 mandis in 2017-18, the Minister added. The Minister also informed that the government is also aimed at promoting agro start-ups through schemes like ‘Start-up India Scheme’ and Scheme for Promotion of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Agro-Industry’ (ASPIRE) scheme under Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

March 05, 2016 | 02:20pm IST

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The Dollar Business Bureau - Mar 05, 2016 08:45 IST

Horticulture outpaces food grains in production

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