HORTICULTRE
CLUSTER - ECONOMY
News: Union
Agriculture Minister announced `18,000 crore expenditure on setting up 100
export-oriented horticulture clusters in the next five years
What’s
in the news?
Horticulture
Cluster Development Programme
About:
- It
is a central sector programme aimed at growing and developing
identified horticulture clusters to make them globally competitive.
- Horticulture
cluster is a regional/geographical concentration of targeted
horticulture crops.
- Implementation:
- It
is implemented by the National Horticulture Board (NHB) of
the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
- The
states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Manipur, Mizoram,
Jharkhand, Uttarakhand etc. will also be included in the list of 55
clusters, identified with their focus/main crops.
- Earlier, in pilot phase, it was
implemented in 12 clusters covering 11 States/UTs.
- Objectives:
- The
CDP aims to improve exports of targeted crops by about 20% and
create cluster-specific brands to enhance the competitiveness of
cluster crops.
- To address
all major issues related to the Indian horticulture sector including
pre-production, production, post-harvest management, logistics, marketing
and branding.
- To leverage
geographical specialisation and promote integrated and market-led
development of horticulture clusters.
- To converge
with other initiatives of the Government such as
the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund.
- A
lot of investment will also come in the horticulture sector through
CDP.
- Significance:
- Cluster
Development Programme has a great potential to transform the entire
horticulture ecosystem by creating last-mile
connectivity with the use of multimodal transport for efficient
and timely evacuation and transportation of horticulture produce.
Status of the Horticulture Sector in India
India
is the second-largest producer of horticulture crops globally.
·
India is a leader in producing fruits like
Mango, Banana, Pomegranate, Sapota, Acid Lime and Aonla.
·
In 2021-22, Uttar Pradesh followed by
Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal were the top states in horticulture production.
· West
Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh were the top States in vegetable
production.
· Maharashtra
followed by Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh were the top states in fruit
production.
The
area under horticulture crops increased to 27.74 million hectares in
2021-22, and produced around 341.63 million tonnes.
Initiatives
for Horticulture:
- Mission
for Integrated Development of Horticulture:
- MIDH is a Centrally
Sponsored Scheme for the holistic growth of the horticulture sector
covering fruits, vegetables and other areas.
- Under MIDH, Government of
India contributes 60% of the total outlay for developmental
programmes in all the states (except North Eastern and Himalayan
states where GOI contributes 90%) & 40% is contributed by State
governments.
- It has five major schemes on
horticulture:
- National
Horticulture Mission (NHM)
- Horticulture
Mission for North East and Himalayan States (HMNEH)
- National
Horticulture Board (NHB)
- Coconut
Development Board (CDB) &
- Central Institute
of Horticulture (CIH), Nagalan
Sources:
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/shivraj-chouhan-announces-rs-18kcr-for-horticulture-clusters-says-will-talk-to-agri-ministers-9497160/