Horticulture Cluster Development Programme (HCDP)

• The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has launched the Horticulture Cluster Development Programme (CDP) in order to promote the export of horticultural produce.
  • Horticulture is the branch of plant agriculture dealing with garden crops, generally fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants.
• It is central sector programme that aims 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 will be implemented by the National Horticulture Board (NHB) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
  • In a pilot phase, the programme will be implemented in 12 horticulture clusters out of the total 53 clusters selected for the programme.
    • These clusters will be implemented through Cluster Development Agencies (CDAs) which are appointed on the recommendations of the respective State/UT Government.
• Objectives:
  • 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.
• Expected Benefit:
  • It will help in ‘Doubling farmers’ income.
  • The programme will benefit about 10 lakh farmers and is expected to attract an investment of Rs. 10,000 crore when implemented in all the 53 clusters.
  • It will improve exports of the targeted crops by 20% and create cluster-specific brands to enhance the competitiveness of cluster crops.
  • CDP has a huge potential to transform the entire horticulture ecosystem improving its global competitiveness by building last-mile connectivity.
• Identified Crops and Clusters for Pilot Phase
  1. Shopian (J&K) for Apple
  2. Kinnaur (H.P.) for Apple, 
  3. Lucknow (U.P.) for Mango,
  4. Kutch (Gujarat) for Mango
  5. Mahbubnagar (Telangana) for Mango, 
  6. Anantapur (A.P.) for Banana
  7. Theni (T.N.) for Banana,
  8. Nasik (Maharashtra) for Grapes,
  9. Sepahijala (Tripura) for Pineapple, 
  10. Solapur (Maharashtra) for Pomegranate
  11. Chitradurga (Karnataka) for Pomegranate 
  12. West Jaintia Hills (Meghalaya) for Turmeric

Status of Indian Horticulture Sector

1. India is the second-largest producer of horticulture crops globally, accounting for approximately 12% of the world’s production of fruits and vegetables.
2. The area under horticulture crops increased to 25.5 million hectare in 2018-19, which is 20% of the total area under foodgrain, and produced 314 million tonnes.
3. During 2019-20, horticulture sector has reached the highest ever horticulture production of 320.77 Million MT in the history of Indian horticulture.
4. Top states in fruit production are Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh
5. Top states in Vegetable production are West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
6. Mango, Pomegranate, Sapota, Banana, Acid Lime and Aonla are the fruits for which India leads the market.