Nirmesh Singh

New Delhi | 30 May 2017

Expecting good monsoon, government has revised upward the estimates of horticulture production for 2016-17. In a Second Advance Estimates of Area and Production of Horticulture Crops for 2016-17, government said, “The production of horticulture crops in the country during 2016-17 is estimated to be more than 295 million tonnes which is 3.2 percent higher as compared to the previous year’s 2015-16 estimates”.

Total acreage under horticulture crops — fruits, vegetables, flowers, plantation crop and spices has increased marginally from 245 lakh ha to 249 lakh ha in 2016-17 recording an increase of 1.9 percent over previous year.

In the first estimate, the production was pegged at 287 million tonnes for the same period. In the 2015-16 crop year, the horticulture production was 286 million tonnes.

Fruits production is estimated to be 93 million tonnes in 2016-17 which is 2.9 percent higher than the previous year while production of vegetables is estimated to be around 175 million tonnes which is 3.5 percent higher than the previous year.

Onion production is likely to go up by 3 percent and is estimated to be 21.6 million tonnes. The major onion producing States are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat.

Potato production has increased from 43.4 million tonnes to 46.5 million tonnes in the current crop year which is 7.2% higher than the previous year. Major Potato growing States are Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab.

Tomato production is estimated to be around 19.7 million tonnes which is 5.1 percent higher than the previous year. The major tomato growing States are Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and Gujarat etc.

Flower Production is also estimated to go higher by 2.9 percent and likely to be 2.2 million tonnes.  Aromatics & Medicinal Plants production will be around 1.03 million tonnes, marginally higher by 0.8% than the previous year. Production of both plantation crops and spices is estimated to be up by 1.3 percent separately than the previous year and will be 17 million tonnes and 7.1 million tonnes, respectively.

However, the record production of horticulture was not fruitful for farmers as the wholesale prices of perishable crops like onion, potatoes and tomatoes crashed and farmers also suffered because of demonetization at the time of harvest.  In Chhattisgarh, farmers dumped potatoes on the roads and also distributed their produce for free as a mark of protest. Farmers of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and other states also suffered due to steep fall in prices.

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