1.1 HORTICULTURE REDEFINED
Horticulture a derivative of latin words hortus: garden plant; cultura: culture denotes culture of garden plants. It involves four areas of study: Pomology (production of fruits), Olericulture (production of vegetables) Floriculture (production of ornamental crops), and Post Harvest Technology (involving maintaining quality and preventing spoilage of horticultural crops). However over the years the scope of the above filed has been expanded to include other crops namely mushroom, bamboo, plantation crops like tea, coffee, rubber, cocoa, coconut, cashew nut, arecanut, oilpalm, palmyra palm. Bee keeping, one of the tools to improve the productivity of horticultural crops through enhanced pollination is also taken care by the horticulture division at the center.
Botanically fruit is a ripened ovary and adnate parts thereof. The science of cultivation of
fruits is called Pomology. It deals with the growing and harvesting of fruits. However some crops like watermelon, musk melon which are consumed in raw form are not covered in this group at present.
Plantation Crops are defined as a group of commercial crops of (i) perennial nature, (ii)
cultivated extensively in tropical and subtropical situations which (iii) need employment of labour throughout the year and the produce of which is usually consumed after processing. Plantation crops may be defined as ‘tropical crops grown on a large scale by a uniform system of cultivation under central management. In general ‘Plantation crops are those cultivated on an extensive scale in large contiguous area owned and managed by an individual or a company. Again in the ICAR, the nodal research organization in the country the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute has been dealing with coconut, arecanut, oil palm, palmyrah palm and cashew. Even Oil Palm, a plantation crop with similar growth habit, upkeep like coconut (which also yield oil) is often erroneously clubbed with oil seed crops. As far as Vegetables are concerned they are edible material of herbaceous origin of a plant or part there of generally grouped into leaf, fruiting, flowering, pod, stem, bulb, and root types used for food as raw or cooked with cholesterol free no calorific value, providing micronutrients, vitamins, antioxidants, fiber and alkaline reaction. Several crops which produce tubers namely potato, cassava, sweet potato are all covered under vegetables. Similarly Spices which are aromatic or pungent vegetable substances of herbaceous plant origin used for colour, fragrance, preservation and taste of food are now broadly covered under vegetable crops. This will avoid grouping of crops like onion, ginger, turmeric and chilli both under vegetable and spice crops. .
Traditionally Floriculture has been defined as the art and knowledge of growing flowers to perfection. Globally floriculture denotes a discipline of horticulture concerned with the cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens and for floristry, comprising the floral industry. However due to enormous diversity of crops and product range the floriculture sector handles today, the floriculture sector in the modern context may be defined as the art and science of growing traditional flowers, cut flowers, bedding plants, flowering and foliage potted plants, arboriculture trees, cut greens, fillers, turf grass and dry flowers for beautification, value addition and isolation of essential oils, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical compounds.
Medicinal plants are those plants that possess secondary metabolites that have
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the present day drugs are basically plant derived. While Aromatic plants are those plants that possess volatile fatty acids (essential oils) that are characterized by sweet aroma used for making perfumes, flavours, cosmetics, aromatherapy products, confectionery, food and beverages. However both the groups comprise mainly ornamental or forest species not covered in any other groups. However overlapping of crops among the groups is quite evident owing their use and application. For instance a number of ornamental crops (jasmine, rose, tuberose, geranium etc) also fall under the aromatic crops and many ornamental crops also fall under the category of medicinal plants (Aloe vera, Chlorophytum
etc,)
In view of the above developments Horticulture can be now redefined as the science of
growing and management of fruits, vegetables including tubers, ornamental, medicinal and aromatic crops, spices, plantation crops, mushroom, bamboo their processing, value addition and marketing.
1.2 STATUS OF HORTICULTURE INDUSTRY IN INDIA
India grows wide group of horticultural crops namely fruits; vegetables, potato, tropical tuber crops and mushroom; ornamental crops; medicinal and aromatic plants, spices and plantation crops like coconut, cashew, cocoa, tea, coffee and rubber. Recently bamboo and honey bees are also included in the list of horticulture. Government of India laid major emphasis on horticulture from mid eighties onwards as a mean of diversification for making agriculture more profitable through efficient land use, optimum utilization of natural resources (soil, water and environment) and creating skilled employment for rural masses especially women folk. The past efforts have been rewarding and India has now emerged as the largest producer of coconut, arecanut, cashew, ginger, turmeric, black pepper and the second largest producer of fruits, vegetables and tea. Among the new crops, kiwi, olive, gherkins, Kinnow and oil palm have been successfully introduced for commercial cultivation in the country.
Production base of horticultural crops has been expanding since independence. From eighth plan onwards this sector has been witnessed tremendous growth in area and production and productivity. The area and production under horticultural crops were 13.43 million ha and 97.83 million tonnes respectively during 1991-92 which increased to 21.74 Million ha and 171. 86 million tonnes during 2004-05 (Table 1.1)
The area under horticultural crops has been increasing in various states. During 2004-05 coverage of area under various horticultural crops was 19.40 million ha (Table 1.2) which is about 13.0 % area of the total cultivated area. The states/ UTs namely Chhatishgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Dadar & Nagar Haveli have less than 10 per cent coverage of area under horticultural crops which need programme for area expansion under horticultural crops. The states namely Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttaranchal covers about 10-25 per cent area under horticultural crops. The 6 states namely Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Pondicherry covers about 25-50% of their area under horticulture while the states Goa, Kerala ,Manipur, Andman & Nicobar, Delhi, Lakshdweep have more than 50 per cent of their area and are saturated for further area expansion in horticulture.
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Table 1.1 Area production and productivity of horticultural crops in India during 2004-05
1991-92 1996-97 2001-02 2004-05 Crops Area (000’ha) Production (000’MT) Area (000’ha) Production (000’MT) Area (000’ha) Production (000’MT) Area (000’ha) Production (000’MT) Fruit 2,870 28,630 3,580 40,458 4,010 43,001 4,954 49,294 Vegetable 5,140 58,530 5,515 75,074 6,156 88,622 6,755 101,433 Mushroom NA NA NA 40 NA 40 NA 50 Flowers NA NA 71 366 106 535 116 655 Medicinal & Aromatic Plants NA NA NA NA NA NA 192 226 Spices 2,005 1,900 2,372 2,805 3,220 3,765 5,155 5,113 Coconut 1,530 6,930 1,890 8,990 1,893 8,821 1,934 12,178 Arecanut 212 240 261 307 335 409 365 439 Cashew 530 300 659 430 750 470 820 554 Tea 420 754 434 810 515 838 521 893 Coffee 223 180 251 205 321 301 328 275 Rubber 488 367 553 550 567 631 578 750
Cocoa & Others 14 7 12 7 16 6.54 28 9.3
Total 13432 97838 15578 130.042 17889 147439.5 21,746 1,71,859.3
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Table1.2 State wise area under horticulture crops during 2003-04
State/UTs % Area under
Horticulture
State/UTs % Area under
Horticulture
Andhra Pradesh 11.41 Nagaland 7.20
Arunachal Pradesh, 40.15 Orissa 20.91
Assam 14.34 Punjab 4.85
Bihar 19.63 Rajasthan 14.80
Chattishgarh 2.75 Sikkim 58.80
Goa 70.85 Tamil Nadu 16.86
Gujarat 8.57 Tripura 28.47
Haryana 6.50 Uttaranchal 15.20
Himachal Pradesh 44.85 Uttar Pradesh 6.41
Jammu & Kashmir 34.13 West Bengal 25.89
Jharkhand 4.73 Andman & Nicobar 100.00
Karnataka 12.73 Chandigarh 10.00
Kerala 73.33 Dadar & Nagar Haveli 9.17
Madhya Pradesh 4.61 Daman & Diu 12.50
Maharashtra 10.23 Delhi 83.32
Manipur 57.21 Lakshdweep 100.00
Meghalaya 31.25 Pondicherry 31.24
Mizoram 18.00 National 13.08