Horticulture in India – UPSC

• Horticulture is the branch of agriculture concerned with fruits, vegetables and ornamental plants. In its wider sense it takes in garden plants, berries, nuts, flowers, trees, shrubs and turf.
• It is capital and labour intensive.
• Horticulturists work on plant propagation, crop production, plant breeding, genetic engineering, plant biochemistry and physiology, storage, processing and transport.
• Modern nurseries raise seedlings and mother plants, propagated by seeds, inarching, budding, veneer grafting, patch budding and softwood grafting.
• India’s varied agro-climates suit a large number of crops: fruits, vegetables, spices, root and tuber crops, ornamental and aromatic plants, medicinal species, and plantation crops such as coconut, arecanut, cashew and cocoa.
• The period 1991–2003, when output of these crops rose strongly, is often called the Golden Revolution. Tea, coffee and rubber are also plantation crops, treated with world plantation agriculture and the major crops of India.

Scale and Crops

The Sector at a Glance

• Older position (India 2009):
  • Horticulture held about 10% of gross cropped area, with about 160 million tonnes of output.
  • Fruits covered 5.7 million hectares and gave about 63 million tonnes. Vegetables covered 7.8 million hectares and gave 125 million tonnes.
• Area: horticulture covered 23.7 million hectares in 2012-13, 29.09 million hectares in 2023-24 and 30.14 million hectares in 2024-25.
  • Set against a gross cropped area of 217.88 million hectares, the 2023-24 area works out at about 13%.

• China alone grows more fruit and vegetables than India, which ranks second.
• World share: India’s shares of 12.6% in fruit and 14.0% in vegetables date from 2012-13. Older accounts put its fruit share at 10%.

• These charts carry 2012-13 figures, when India produced 81.3 million tonnes of fruit and 162.2 million tonnes of vegetables.

Plantation Crops within Horticulture

• Plantation crops grow on large estates. They are not annual: they take 3–5 years to bear, then yield for 35–40 years.
• They need heavy initial capital and high technology, and cover a small area at high value.
• India counted over 30,000 plantations, employing over 20 lakh persons full-time or part-time, mostly in tea, coffee and rubber.
• The horticulture sector counts coconut, arecanut, cashew, cocoa and spices among its own.
• Plantation output came to 16.98 million tonnes in 2024-25.

Fruits

• India’s climate favours a wide range of fruits:

• Leading fruits: banana is the top fruit by output (about 32% in older data), then mango (21%). Mango holds the largest area of any fruit.
• Leading States (older data): Tamil Nadu in banana; Uttar Pradesh (24.4%) and Andhra Pradesh (24.5%) in mango.
• World rank:
  • India leads in mango, banana and nimboo (acid lime), and has recorded the world’s highest grape productivity per hectare.
  • It has also been counted first in cashew, papaya and pomegranate, and first in productivity of grapes, banana, cashew, peas and papaya.
  • Mango: about 43% of world output in 2023 (41% in 2004).
  • Banana: about 23–25% of world output.
• What each fruit needs, and where it grows:
  • Mango, a native of monsoon lands:
    • It takes 20–30°C and 75–250 cm of rain. It grows on almost all Indian soils, though rich clayey loams suit it best.
    • Groves stand close to towns and villages, which give a ready market.
    • India has about 1,000 varieties, among them dashehari, langra, chausa, safeda, fazli, malda, mohanbhog, alphonso and shahpasand.
    • Output was about 18 million tonnes from around 2.5 million hectares in 2012-13.
    • Indians eat most mangoes fresh or as pickles, chutneys and squashes. Bangladesh, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the UK have been the main buyers abroad.
    • Growers: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Keralam (Kerala), Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka.
  • Banana, a tropical and subtropical crop:
    • It needs 20–30°C through its growth, well above 150 cm of rain, and rich, moist, well-drained soil full of humus.
    • It held about 12.46% of fruit area yet over a third of fruit output in the older data, showing how heavy its yield is.
    • Output more than doubled, from 12.64 million tonnes in 1997-98 to 26.65 million tonnes in 2011-12.
    • The Peninsula is its best home. Gujarat, Karnataka, Keralam, Andhra Pradesh and Assam grow it along with Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, and the UAE is the chief export market.
  • Apple, a temperate crop:
    • It takes 21–24°C in the growing season and 100–125 cm of evenly spread rain.
    • It suits loamy, well-drained soil rich in organic matter, without hard layers or waterlogging.
    • It is grown in Kullu, Shimla, the Kashmir Valley and the Uttarakhand hills.
  • Orange, the chief citrus fruit:
    • Soil matters more than climate. Well-drained, light sandy loams let roots go down 2–4 metres.
    • Most orchards are rainfed, at 600–1,500 m.
    • Centres: Nagpur, Pune, Kodagu, Wayanad, Nilgiri, Kangra, Darjeeling, Hyderabad, the Khasi and Jaintia Hills and the Uttarakhand hills.
  • Grape, a subtropical plant:
    • It wants a long summer, a short winter, moderately fertile well-drained soil, low water during growth, and bright sun for the three months of ripening.
    • The north gets one summer crop. The south can get two crops a year, in March-April and August-September.
    • Growers: Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, with Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab in the north. Bangladesh, the Netherlands, the UK and the UAE buy Indian grapes.
  • Cashew, on poor soils:
    • The Portuguese brought it to the west coast in the 16th and 17th centuries.
    • It takes 16–25°C and 50–350 cm of rain, on poor rocky, laterite or sandy soils.
    • The kernel is a dry fruit, shell oil goes into paints and varnishes, and the apple gives syrup, jam, squash and wine.
    • 2012-13: 7.53 lakh tonnes from 9.92 lakh hectares, led by Maharashtra 29.9%, Andhra Pradesh 15.7%, Odisha 13.4%, Keralam 10.2%, Karnataka 9.9% and Tamil Nadu 8.2%. Kernels went to the USA, Russia, the UK, Germany and others.
  • Coconut, a long-lived palm:
    • It takes 25–30°C and 125–130 cm of rain, with as little as 100 cm in parts of Odisha. Frost and drought harm it.
    • It stays mainly rainfed in Keralam and coastal Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and irrigated elsewhere. It suits rich loams and coastal sandy loams.
    • It bears for over 60 years, after a wait of 5–7 years.
    • Area and output: 0.62 million hectares and 3,582 million nuts in 1950-51, against 2.14 million hectares and 22,684 million nuts in 2012-13.
    • Keralam, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are the main growers, and small holders dominate. India ranks among the top three producers, and does well in coir exports.
  • Arecanut, chewed with betel leaf:
    • It takes 15–35°C and 200–300 cm of rain, up to 1,000 m.
    • 2012-13: about 6 lakh tonnes from 4.5 lakh hectares, with some 40 lakh people living by it.
    • Keralam, Karnataka, Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya give about 90%.
  • Other temperate fruits:
    • Apricot takes 130–200 cm of rain and moderate warmth, in Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Kumaon.
    • Peach is too perishable for long hauls, so it sells mostly in local markets. It grows in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Kashmir.
    • Pear is mainly in Kashmir, Kumaon and Himachal Pradesh, and in the Nilgiris in the south.
    • Strawberry is grown in the hills of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
    • Almond and walnut come from Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Kumaon and Garhwal.

Vegetables

• The usual list has over 40 kinds of vegetable. The fuller count reaches about 175 types.
• Important crops: potato, tomato, onion, chillies, carrot, radish, turnip, beans, lady’s finger or okra, gourd, lettuce, brinjal, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach and peas.
• Potato leads in output and area, followed by tomato in older data. Onion has since passed tomato:
  • 2024-25: potato 58.57 million tonnes, onion 30.77 million tonnes, tomato 20.60 million tonnes.
• Other vegetables: cucumber, carrot, mushroom, coloquintida and pumpkin. Potato, tomato, onion, cabbage and cauliflower together made up about 60% of output in the older data.
• Location: vegetables are mostly short-duration crops, so a plot can give two or three crops a year. They cluster around towns, in the market-gardening logic of von Thunen’s first ring.
• Jobs: they provide more work than cereals and generate more farm income.
• World rank:
  • Only China is ahead in area and output. Long-quoted ranks are cauliflower first, onion second, cabbage third.
  • FAO data for 2022 place India first in onion, ginger and okra, and second in potato, cauliflower, brinjal and cabbage.
• Older data:
  • 2004-05: 6.30 million hectares, 93 million tonnes, at 14.8 tonnes per hectare.
  • 2016-17: Uttar Pradesh led (26.4 million tonnes), followed by West Bengal (25.5 million tonnes).
• Area now: 11.88 million hectares (2025-26, second advance estimate).
• Demand was projected to reach 151–183 million tonnes by 2030. Output has passed that range.

• These charts run to 2017-18, with total output at 311.7 million tonnes.

Flowers

• Cut flowers such as rose, gladiolus, tuberose and carnation are now used widely in bouquets, gifts, and for decorating homes and workplaces.
• Rising incomes, especially among the upper and middle classes, have turned flower growing into an organised business.
• Diverse agro-climates give all major flowers somewhere in the country all year, and better transport carries them across it.
• Output:
  • Older estimate: 1.14 lakh hectares, 670,000 tonnes of loose flowers, and cut flowers numbering 13,010 million.
  • 2010-11: 1.91 lakh hectares, 10.31 lakh tonnes loose, 7,252.75 million cut flowers.
  • 2024-25: 3.97 lakh hectares and 42.65 lakh tonnes.
• Leading States: Tamil Nadu has long led in loose flowers, and West Bengal in cut flowers.

Spices

• India is a leading producer and exporter of spices, with pepper, cardamom, chillies, ginger and turmeric to the fore. Spices covered 50.93 lakh hectares in 2024-25.
• Pepper, the “king of spices”:
  • A vine that climbs other trees, it takes 10–30°C and 200–300 cm of rain, up to 1,200 m, on lateritic hill soils of the Western Ghats.
  • Keralam dominates, then Kodagu and Uttara Kannada in Karnataka, and a little in Tamil Nadu.
  • About a third was exported in the older data, to some 80 countries, and Vietnam has become a strong rival.
• Cardamom, the “queen of aromatic spices”:
  • A shade plant of tropical forest at 800–1,600 m, it takes 15–32°C and 150–300 cm of rain, on humus-rich forest and laterite soils.
  • In 2012-13, Keralam gave 53%, Karnataka 42% and Tamil Nadu 5%, from the Cardamom Hills, Idukki, Kodagu, Hassan and Madurai.
  • India held a near monopoly until the early 1980s. Guatemala then rose to lead world exports.
• Chilli:
  • It takes 10–30°C and 60–125 cm of rain, on loams and black cotton soil, up to 1,700 m.
  • Output reached 13.04 lakh tonnes in 2012-13, about half of it from undivided Andhra Pradesh, around Guntur and Warangal. Most is eaten at home.
• Ginger:
  • It takes 10–25°C and 125–250 cm of rain, on well-drained loams and laterites, up to 1,300 m.
  • Output rose from 2.52 lakh tonnes in 1997-98 to 6.83 lakh tonnes in 2012-13. Meghalaya, Keralam, Sikkim, Odisha, Mizoram and Karnataka are the main growers, and most stays at home.
• Turmeric:
  • It needs a tropical climate and well-drained loams or alluvial soils.
  • Guntur and Cuddapah, Coimbatore, Mysuru and Belagavi, and Phulabani and Koraput were the old centres. About 90% stays at home.

Horticulture in the States

• Tamil Nadu: rich biodiversity and suitable climate give tropical and temperate fruits, vegetables, spices, condiments, plantation crops, medicinal herbs, aromatic plants and commercial flowers.
• Jammu and Kashmir:
  • Horticulture is the mainstay of the rural economy of Kashmir, earning over Rs 50 crore a year on the older count.
  • Crops: apple, pears, cherries, walnuts, almonds, peaches, saffron, apricots, strawberries and plums.
• Odisha:
  • Pineapple, mango, cashew; mushroom, drumstick, onions; ginger, turmeric.
  • The State supplies better planting material at subsidised rates, runs training and field demonstrations, and encourages cultivation at lift irrigation points.
• Punjab: about 1,82,600 hectares by 2002, and much more since. Crops: sweet orange, kinnow, guava, peach, litchi, mango.
• Maharashtra: banana, fig, grapes, custard apple, wood apple, jambul, pomegranate, mandarin orange, guava, sweet orange; vegetables, medicinal plants and spices.
• Tripura:
  • High hills and hillocks cut by rivers and valleys, with a warm, humid climate and about 2,500 mm of evenly spread rain, suit rainfed horticulture.
  • Crops: pineapple, jackfruit, orange, litchi, cashew nut, coconut, lime, lemon.
• Assam: carambola, wood apple, jackfruit, ginger, oranges, olives, figs and bamboo shoot. Almost 75% of its people live by agriculture and horticulture.
• Andhra Pradesh:
  • A varied climate supports many crops.
  • It leads in citrus, chillies, turmeric and oil palm on the older count.
  • It is also a major producer of cocoa, cashew, guava, coriander, banana, ginger and coconut.

Horticulture in Regional Planning

• The agro-climatic zones of the Planning Commission show where the sector concentrates. In a 1990 count, the Lower, Middle and Upper Ganga Plains and the West Coast held 56.4% of fruit and vegetable area and 60.8% of output, a wider spread than for crops such as cotton or sugarcane.
• Zone strategies give horticulture a place almost everywhere:
  • Western Himalaya: garden and plantation crops, and temperate fruits such as apple, peach, pear, almond and walnut.
  • Eastern Himalaya: orange, pineapple, lime and litchi, as better land use than shifting cultivation or jhum.
  • Lower Ganga Plain: banana, mango and citrus, along with fishing and livestock.
  • Middle Ganga Plain: diversifying paddy land into vegetables, fruit and floriculture.
  • Upper Ganga Plain: mixed cropping with horticulture and floriculture.
  • Trans-Ganga Plain: horticulture and pulses on uplands, vegetables close to industrial clusters, and quality seed and planting material.
  • Southern Plateau: horticulture alongside poultry, dairying and restored tanks.
• The Eleventh Plan placed crop diversification among its aims for farm growth, and high-value crops have been a main route for it.

Himalayan Horticulture

• Potential:
  • Altitude gives cool temperate climates, and apple orchards thrive at 1,500–2,700 m on loamy, well-drained slopes free of hail and frost.
  • High-value fruit replaces low-value millets, raising incomes and creating jobs in processing, packing and transport.
  • Slopes unfit for field crops can carry orchards, which also protect the soil.
• Present status:
  • Western Himalaya: the Kashmir Valley, Kullu, Shimla and Kangra grow apple, apricot, pear, peach, almond, walnut and cherry. Saffron grows in Kashmir.
  • Central Himalaya: Kumaon and Garhwal in Uttarakhand grow apple, pear, peach, apricot and citrus. Jeolikote in Nainital is known for strawberries.
  • Apple output: about 2.63 million tonnes in 2023-24, with Jammu and Kashmir near 79% and Himachal Pradesh near 19%.
• Policy:
  • A Technology Mission began for the North East in 2001-02, extended in 2003-04 to Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand as the Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States.
  • High-density apple planting has since spread in Kashmir, reaching about 1,104 hectares in the Kashmir Division.
• Limits:
  • Fruit such as peach is highly perishable, and needs fast transport from remote valleys.
  • Hail, frost and fog can harm the crop near maturity.
  • Old, low-yielding orchards in these hills need replacing with better planting material.

Importance and Growth

Retrospect and Prospect

• Horticulture is a key driver of economic development in many States, contributing about 30.4% of agricultural GDP (2011-12 era).
• It raises rural incomes, and its labour-intensive work creates rural jobs.
• Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals, protein and carbohydrates, so these crops bear directly on nutrition and public health.
• India is the world’s largest producer and exporter of spices on the long-standing count, and first in several fruits.
• Exports (2011-12): in value, fresh fruits and vegetables grew 13% and processed ones 17.42%.
• Growth: focused attention has raised output about seven-fold, supporting nutritional security and employment.
  • Output grew from 211.2 million tonnes in 2007-08 to 311.7 million tonnes in 2017-18, 354.74 million tonnes in 2023-24 and 370.74 million tonnes in 2024-25.
• Other values: horticulture raises land productivity and exports.

• This table gives 2016-17 and 2017-18 in thousand tonnes and thousand hectares.

Horticulture and Agriculture Compared

• This chart uses an early estimate for 2017-18, with horticulture at 306.8 and foodgrains at 279.5 million tonnes.

• This chart uses later figures for 2017-18, 311.7 and 284.8 million tonnes.
• Latest comparison: horticulture has stayed well above foodgrains in volume since 2012-13.

Importance and Scope

• With more than 68 million tonnes of fruit and 121 million tonnes of vegetables in 2011-12, India was already second in the world.
• Consumption falls short:
  • Per head, people ate only around 46 g of fruit and 130 g of vegetables a day.
  • The Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Nutrition recommended at least about 92 g and 300 g, and their later guidance sets 400–500 g of the two together.
• Demand: the annual requirement would be of the order of 110 million tonnes of fruit and 360 million tonnes of vegetables (Karunakaran and Palanisami, 2012).
• Land: 12.66 million hectares of cultivable waste in 2011-12 could carry orchards without taking food-crop land. It stood at 11.59 million hectares in 2023-24, as land use data show.
• Natural advantage: abundant sunshine all year, surplus labour and varied agro-climates favour profitable commercial horticulture.
• Major crops: mango, banana, citrus, apple, pineapple; potato, onion, tomato and seasonal vegetables.

Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture

Origin and Structure

• The National Horticulture Mission began in the Tenth Plan, from 2005-06. Its aims:
  • Raise output through area-based, regionally differentiated strategies.
  • Improve nutritional security and farm incomes.
  • Spread technologies.
• The Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for holistic growth, launched under the Twelfth Plan from 2014-15.
• It pulls together six parts:
  • National Horticulture Mission (NHM).
  • Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States (HMNEH).
  • National Bamboo Mission (NBM).
  • National Horticulture Board (NHB).
  • Coconut Development Board (CDB).
  • Central Institute of Horticulture (CIH), Nagaland.
• Coverage: fruits, vegetables, root and tuber crops, mushrooms, spices, flowers, medicinal and aromatic plants, coconut, cashew, cocoa and bamboo.
• Where each part works:
  • NHM runs in all States and UTs outside the North East and Himalaya, and HMNEH runs in those two regions.
  • NBM runs in all States and UTs.
  • NHB focuses on commercial horticulture everywhere.
  • CDB works wherever coconut is grown.
  • CIH serves the North Eastern States, focusing on human resources and capacity building.
• Funding: the Centre gives 60% in most States, 90% in North Eastern and Himalayan States, and 100% for its national bodies.
• Operational guidelines were revised in April 2025, adding a Clean Plant Programme.
• The related cluster development programme builds on the same cluster logic.

• On this chart, “NBH” is the National Horticulture Board (NHB).

• In this table, “HIMNEH” is the Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States (HMNEH).

Objectives

• Promote holistic growth, including bamboo and coconut, through area-based strategies covering research, technology promotion, extension, post-harvest management, processing and marketing, in line with each region’s comparative advantage and agro-climate.
• Aggregate farmers into groups such as Farmer Interest Groups (FIGs), Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs), for economies of scale and scope.
• Raise output and farm incomes, and strengthen nutritional security.
• Improve productivity through quality germplasm, planting material and water-use efficiency by micro irrigation.
• Support skill development and rural jobs, especially in post-harvest management and the cold chain.

Strategy

• An end-to-end approach: pre-production, production, post-harvest management, processing and marketing, so that growers get fair returns.
• Research and technology for cultivation and processing, with special focus on cold chains to extend shelf life.
• Productivity through:
  • Diversification from traditional crops to plantations, orchards, vineyards, flowers, vegetable gardens and bamboo.
  • High-tech horticulture, including protected cultivation and precision farming.
• More orchards and plantations, including bamboo and coconut, particularly where horticulture holds under 50% of agricultural area.
• Better post-harvest management, processing and marketing infrastructure.
• Coordination and convergence among research, processing and marketing agencies, public and private, at all levels.
• Producer organisations tied to market aggregators and financial institutions.
• Capacity building at all levels, including changes in the syllabus of graduation courses at colleges, universities and polytechnics.

Mission Interventions

• The Mission is demand and need based in each segment.
• Information Communication Technology (ICT), remote sensing and geographic information systems help plan and monitor, by identifying sites for post-harvest and market infrastructure and by forecasting output.
• Interventions are regionally differentiated, with potential crops developed in clusters using modern methods and backward and forward linkages.

Key Features

• Baseline survey, involvement of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), and area-based annual and perspective plans.
• Applied research focused on region (North East and Himalaya) and crop.
• Demand-driven production on a cluster approach, with quality seed and planting material.
• Technology programmes:
  • Improved varieties and rejuvenation with improved cultivars.
  • High-density plantation and use of plastics.
  • Bee-keeping for crop pollination.
  • Capacity building of farmers and staff, mechanisation, and demonstrations.
• Post-harvest management, cold storage and marketing infrastructure.
• Harnessing farmer groups, building databases, and technical support from national agencies.

Main Components

Norms below are from the earlier guidelines. The 2025 revision keeps the same heads and resets many cost norms.

• Nurseries:
  • Good seed and planting material get top priority.
  • States keep a network of nurseries, and aid goes to new hi-tech and small nurseries, public and private, to supply new area and rejuvenation.
• Imported planting material: aid meets the cost of the latest varieties from abroad.
  • Area expansion runs with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), which can meet labour costs such as digging and fencing.
• Rejuvenation of senile orchards and canopy management, through farmers, cooperatives, self-help groups, growers’ associations and commodity organisations.
• Water sources:
  • Community tanks and farm ponds with plastic or RCC lining give life-saving irrigation.
  • This work converges with the rural employment scheme, and can be linked to micro irrigation.
• Protected cultivation:
  • Green houses, shade nets, plastic mulch, plastic tunnels, and anti-bird and hail nets.
  • The National Horticulture Board takes up projects above 2,500 sq m.
  • Costs include irrigation systems, and local material is preferred. Subsidised material must meet Bureau of Indian Standards norms.
• Precision farming:
  • 22 Precision Farming Development Centres (PFDCs), anchored in State Agricultural Universities, ICAR institutes and IIT Kharagpur, develop regional technologies from their plasticulture experience.
  • The goal is field-level information so that farmers apply inputs correctly.
• Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) and Integrated Pest Management (IPM):
  • Aid covers horticultural crops and bamboo, with Disease Forecasting Units (DFUs, public sector only), bio-control laboratories, plant health clinics and leaf and tissue laboratories.
  • Beneficiaries must register bio-control agents for commercial sale.
  • Liquid biofertilizers of N, P and K (Rhizobium, Azospirillum, Azotobacter, Phosphate Solubilising Bacteria or PSB, and Potash Mobilising Bacteria or KMB) get 50% of cost or Rs 300 per hectare, up to 4 hectares.
• Organic farming: aid of 50% of cost above area expansion, up to 4 hectares over three years, with certification.
• Tissue culture units: new units, each to produce 25 lakh plants of mandated crops with commercial protocols (date palm excepted), and rehabilitation of existing ones.
• Research on horticulture and bamboo: seed and planting material, technology standardisation and acquisition, training and front-line demonstrations, on a project mode.
• Production and productivity: improved technology, genetic upgradation, response to climate change, and an area-based cluster approach that also helps form producer organisations.
• Good Agricultural Practices: certification, in line with global GAP, for better prices at home and abroad.
• Centres of Excellence: demonstration and training centres, and sources of planting material and vegetable seedlings under protected cultivation.
• Human Resource Development (HRD): training of farmers, entrepreneurs, field workers and officers, in the State and outside it.
• Pollination through bee-keeping: honey bees serve as a farm input. A State Designated Agency (SDA) coordinates the work, with the National Bee Board (NBB) in charge nationally.
• Mechanisation: power-operated machines and tools, including imports, to raise efficiency and cut drudgery.
• Demonstrations: crop-specific methods, pest and nutrient management, protected cultivation and organic farming, on a compact one hectare in farmers’ fields, limited to 75% of cost.
• Integrated post-harvest management:
  • Handling, grading, pre-conditioning, packaging, transient storage, transport, distribution, curing and ripening, and long-term storage where possible, medicinal plants included.
  • Schemes of the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) and the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) are also drawn on.
  • Projects include pre-cooling units, on-farm pack houses, mobile pre-cooling units, staging cold rooms, cold stores with or without controlled atmosphere, integrated cold chains, refrigerated vans and containers, primary and mobile processing units, ripening chambers, low-energy cool chambers, preservation units, onion stores and zero-energy cool chambers.
• Cold chain infrastructure: aid only for multi-chamber, energy-efficient cold stores with thermal insulation, humidity control, advanced cooling and automation, to approved standards.
• Processing and value addition:
  • The Mission backs primary and minimal processing, and the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MFPI) backs large-scale units.
  • In Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand, food processing units fall under the Himalayan sub-scheme.
• Market infrastructure:
  • Aims:
    • Draw private and cooperative investment.
    • Strengthen wholesale and rural markets.
    • Promote grading, standardisation and quality certification at farm or market level.
    • Spread awareness among farmers, consumers, entrepreneurs and traders.
  • Condition: aid goes only to States and UTs that have amended their Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act and notified rules for:
    • New markets in the private and cooperative sector.
    • Direct marketing to wholesalers, bulk retailers, processors, exporters and end users, with no market fee outside the yard.
    • Licences without premises in the market yard.
    • Contract farming.
    • Waiver of market fee on perishables.
• Horticulture database: statistics strengthened through State Horticulture Missions (SHMs), the Directorate of Horticulture and the Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute (IASRI), engaged as a national level agency.
• International collaboration: with bodies such as the FAO, World Bank and Asian Development Bank, along with evaluation and other studies.

Role of National Level Agencies

• National Horticulture Board, Gurugram:
  • Set up in April 1984 on the recommendation of the “Group on Perishable Agricultural Commodities” under Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan, then Member (Agriculture) of the Planning Commission.
  • It is a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
  • It runs a sub-scheme of the Mission and houses the national Technical Support Group (TSG), along with those for the horticulture and bamboo missions, giving them administrative, logistical and staff support.
• Coconut Development Board, Kochi: runs a sub-scheme and houses the support group for coconut.
• Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC):
  • Gives handholding in the North East and Himalayan States.
  • Acts as lead agency for forming farmer groups and tying them to financial institutions and market aggregators.
  • Houses the support group for the Himalayan mission, the Central Institute of Horticulture and VIUC schemes.
• National Seeds Corporation (NSC), New Delhi: a Schedule B Miniratna Category-I company, wholly government-owned, under the Agriculture Ministry. It was set up in March 1963 to produce foundation and certified seed.
• National Research Centre for Citrus, Nagpur: carries the mission-mode Technology Mission on Citrus. Since 2014 it has been the Central Citrus Research Institute.
• State Farms Corporation of India, New Delhi: develops and supplies good seed and planting material.
• Hindustan Insecticides Ltd (HIL): produces and supplies good vegetable seed.
• National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad: trains field staff under the two horticulture missions.
• Directorate of Cashewnut and Cocoa Development (DCCD): the national agency for developing cashew and cocoa, which also holds national training programmes, seminars and workshops on them.
• Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development, Calicut: has the national mandate for spices, arecanut, aromatic plants and betel vine, with training programmes, seminars and workshops.
• National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF), Nashik:
  • Established by the National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) on 3 November 1977, under the 1860 Act, at New Delhi.
  • It guides farmers and exporters on productivity and quality, so as to meet home needs and boost exports of onion and similar crops.
• National Bee Board: gives technical support and runs promotional programmes on bee-keeping.
• Ministry of Food Processing Industries, New Delhi: supports food processing units and clusters promoted under the Mission, especially in Himalayan mission areas.
• National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), New Delhi: runs schemes on medicinal plants with the National Horticulture Mission.
• Central Institute of Horticulture, Nagaland: coordinates the generation, transfer and spread of better production technology in the North East.
• National Centre for Cold Chain Development (NCCD): guides policy and sets standards for integrated cold chains for fruits, vegetables and other perishables, working closely with industry.
• National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM), Sonipat, Haryana: helps with food standards, business incubation, knowledge sharing and networking among institutions.

• In this table, Golden Revolution covers fruit, horticulture and honey; honey is now promoted as the Sweet Revolution. The Green and Silver entries have their own accounts.