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Cultivation of fruits & vegetables surpassed that of cereal grains
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Saturday, 14 January, 2023, 16 : 00 PM [IST]
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Tarun Arora
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Producing fruits and vegetables at minimal cost, India is one of the world's major agricultural economies. The agricultural sector of India's economy is the country's backbone. Horticulture refers to the cultivation of plants for human use, including but not limited to fruits, vegetables, and flowers. The Latin terms hortus (garden) and cultura (cultivation) are the origins of the English word "horticulture." It describes the practice of growing plants in a contained space, such as a garden. Every step of the horticulture process—from planting to crop management to harvesting to packing to storage to marketing and processing—requires meticulous attention to detail. Horticulture crops account for over 28 per cent of India's GDP, and India is the world's second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables after China (GDP). Much of the agricultural output is exported, and it also serves as a critical input for the food processing and distribution sectors.
The salience of the horticulture sector
India's horticulture industry has a lot of potential, and the way we grow and sell fruits is changing, which is a step in the right direction toward the next generation. By adding human intelligence and technology to farms, the country is catching up with high-value markets that were once an afterthought, mostly because farmers stuck to the old ways of farming. Things are shaking up, and they are changing rapidly. Indian fruit orchards and farms are now attracting overseas and corporate investments and modernising production methods, resulting in opening up newer markets for premium agricultural produce and boosting exports as well.
The scope and significance
Horticultural plant cultivation plays a significant role in the Indian economy by giving jobs and raw materials to food processing companies, as well as by increasing production, hence increasing profitability and export revenues from foreign currency. In the previous several decades, this field's contribution to the gross domestic product has increased its significance (GDP). It has emerged as a leading source for boosting income, alleviating poverty, and creating jobs. Some 24 million hectare, or more than 7 per cent of all agricultural land, is allocated to horticulture. India ranks second in the cultivation of vegetables such as potatoes, cauliflower and brinjal and is the leading producer of okra. In terms of the cultivation of fruits such as mango, banana, guava, lemon, and papaya, India ranks first. In India, the cultivation of fruits and vegetables has surpassed that of cereal grains.
Horticulture’s techno treadmill: Sprinting towards a greener future
In order to keep new pests and diseases under control, horticultural crops need more individual care and close monitoring than arable crops. By establishing this kind of intense yet integrated management, technical advancements have been able to make the practice more streamlined and simplified than the agricultural activities that had previously been conducted by hand, bringing greater accuracy and dependability.
Today, we are seeing all major fruit growers adopting Controlled Environment Agriculture – CEA in their production practices, driving efficiencies and maximising productivity. With CEA, the grower also gets the choice to grow whatever fruit he wants and wherever he wants, cutting across geographical and climate barriers. This is the single biggest advantage of CEA: it empowers the grower to grow products as per demand. For example, if the market demand for avocados is growing, he can switch to avocado cultivation anywhere in India and yet grow avocados for the US market. With CEA, the grower is making his or her production more sustainable by protecting natural resources like land and water and using a lot less fertilisers, pesticides, and other chemicals that pollute land and water.
In the face of the threat of climate change and extreme climate, CEA-enabled farms are better equipped to protect their crops. Growing in greenhouses, netted houses and under tunnels, for instance, minimises damage resulting from extreme climate conditions. With CEA, growers have a better chance of providing food security for the world population. Technology has allowed the horticulture industry to be expeditious towards the requirements of the masses.
What needs to be done for a fruity future?
It is crucial that the value chain for fruits and vegetables be driven by market demand so that producers do not suffer from oversupply. In order to do this, it is essential to eliminate different types of losses, waste, and inefficiency throughout the value chain. In this context, the first step would be to minimise harvest and post-harvest losses by addressing the storage facility deficiency and resolving the geographical mismatch via initiatives such as Kisan Rail and Krishi Udaan. Second, we must minimise marketing chain inefficiencies by adopting alternative marketing models/channels. In a typical fruits and vegetable value chain, substantial profits taken by middlemen result in a low proportion of consumer rupees allocated to the farmer. Innovative approaches, such as farmer-producer organisations connecting organised retail directly with farmers, farmer-consumer marketplaces, contract farming and so on have been developed as a solution. Today, there is also an urgent need to strengthen horticultural extension and hasten the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the field.
Here, horti-tech startups are destined to play a significant role in the future. Across the agricultural value chain, agritech startups are bringing relevant and novel solutions to a range of difficulties. These start-ups have become the connection between farmers, input dealers, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers, linking them and giving them strong marketing links and quality products on time, thereby increasing the producer's share of the consumer's rupee.
Juice of the discussion
There is a visible change taking place in post-harvest activities. From plucking to ripening to packaging, all-around technology is applied, bringing efficiency and increasing the marketability of the produce. More investments in cold chain logistics are happening as we can now see cold storages cropping up across the country, and many more reefer trucks plying across the highways. This is very important as fruits are highly perishable, and their storing and transporting is an equally precise operation as growing; any failure can result in an entire consignment's loss. We need more international trade shows in India so that our fruit growers can talk to people from the international fruit industry and learn about the rules of the international market.
India is a land of unlimited promise. We can do the same with the horticulture industry as we did with our digital revolution, which has surpassed many developed economies.It’s not long before Indian fruits will share shelf space with European fruits in the US markets as well as all the other major markets. The jobs this industry creates have the potential to promote the sector and the economy's sustained expansion. India has become a prominent producer of horticultural goods and a viable source for job development, revenue production, and export promotion. With improved resource allocation, infrastructural development, technical advancement, and policy execution for the growth of the horticulture industry, India is projected to attain a significant position in the international community. Certain projects that would contribute to the future growth and development of the horticulture industry need a concerted effort to be executed.
(The author is director, single family office, IG International)
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