Horticulture Cluster Development Programme | 01 Jun 2021
Why in News
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.
Key Points
- Cluster Development Programme (CDP):
- 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.
- It is a central sector programme aimed at growing and developing identified horticulture clusters to make them globally competitive.
- 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:
- 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.
- About:
- Horticulture Sector in India:
- India is the second-largest producer of horticulture crops globally, accounting for approximately 12% of the world’s production of fruits and vegetables.
- India is a leader in producing fruits like Mango, Banana, Pomegranate, Sapota, Acid Lime and Aonla.
- In 2018-19, Andhra Pradesh followed by Maharashtra and UP were the top states in fruit production.
- West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh were the top States in vegetable production.
- 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.
- Recent steps taken for this sector:
- The Ministry has provided an enhanced allocation of Rs. 2250 Crore for the year 2021-22 for ‘Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture’ (MIDH).
- MIDH is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for the holistic growth of the horticulture sector covering fruits, vegetables, root & tuber crops, mushrooms, spices, flowers, aromatic plants, coconut, cashew, cocoa and bamboo.
- India is the second-largest producer of horticulture crops globally, accounting for approximately 12% of the world’s production of fruits and vegetables.
Way Forward
- There is tremendous scope for enhancing the productivity of Indian horticulture which is imperative to cater to the country’s estimated demand of 650 Million MT of fruits and vegetables by the year 2050.
- Some of the new initiatives like focus on planting material production, cluster development programme, credit push through Agri Infra Fund, formation and promotion of FPOs (Farmers Producer Organisations) are the right steps in this direction.