India is the 2nd largest producer of horticultural crops & fruits: Radha Mohan Singh

The Dollar Business Bureau

Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh said on Sunday that India is the second largest producer of horticultural crops and fruits after China, and added that this is the result of research and development projects in horticulture crops.

“Research and development projects in horticulture crops have yielded encouraging results, as a result, the production of horticulture crops have been more than food grains irrespective of adverse climatic conditions,” Singh said, while speaking at the World Orange Day 2017 event in Nagpur. 

“After China, India is the second largest producer of horticultural crops and fruits,” he added.

The Minister said that during 2015-16, over 9 crore metric tonne of fruits were produced on 63 lakhs hectare of land. As per an estimate, 30 crore metric tonne of horticulture crops is expected to be produced on 2.5 crore hectare of land during 2016-17, in which there is a significant contribution of fruit. 

“The record achievement includes 42 million tonne of fruit production on 65 lakh hectare land. In terms of area, the citrus fruits hold second position (10.37 lakh hectare) and third (12 million tonnes) in production,” he said.

Stressing on the importance of orchards in sustaining nutrient security, conserving environment and generating employment, Singh said that his Ministry is implementing Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), across the country.

MIDH is a centrally-sponsored scheme to promote the holistic growth of horticulture sector in India.

Singh further said that for the integrated development of horticultural crops, several ambitious schemes are being implemented such as informing the farmers on the advanced production techniques, promoting the processing and marketing of products to boost exports.

“For this, two clusters will be developed in Nagpur and Amravati in the state of Maharashtra,” he added.