The next green revolution in India can come only through horticulture, which is growing at a faster pace than agriculture, said Prof Ramesh Chand, Niti Aayog member on Thursday.
Addressing the inaugural session of the National Horticulture Fair 2025 at the ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticulture Research in Bengaluru, Chand said the annual growth in country’s horticulture sector is more than 7 per cent whereas the agriculture growth is less than 4 per cent.
While horticulture crops are grown in about 6-7 per cent of the total cropped area, the share of fruits and vegetables in the total production of crops is 30 per cent in terms of value, which is a big achievement, Chand said.
For India to become a developed country by 2047, it is necessary that our economy grows by 7-8 per cent and agriculture grows by 5 per cent, Chand said. “If we want to contribute to 5 per cent growth in agriculture, it is impossible without horticulture,” Chand said.
Tech driven
India’s horticulture production has surpassed the agriculture output three years ago and has topped 353 million tonnes during 2023-24 as per third advance estimates.
“The growth of horticulture and its role in development over the past 15-20 years is commendable. The next green revolution is not going to come from cereals, pulses and oilseeds. It can come from only horticulture crops,” Chand said and called upon the scientists to focus on bringing the second green revolution from the horticulture crops at the earliest.
He exhorted the scientists to focus on boosting output, which can come through area expansion and increased yields through introduction of new technology among others.
Chand said the growth in horticulture is largely driven by technology and demand and not by prices a there’s no MSP in any crop. Also, there there’s no government intervention in the market.
In State like Karnataka, the growth rate in conventional crops such as cereals, pulses and oilseeds is only 2.4 per cent every year, while the growth rate in fruits and vegetables is 7.6 per cent. So is the growth in other States like Andhra and Madhya Pradesh and other states. As a result, horticulture farmers in these States have already double their income in the past decade, Chand said. He observed that horticulture and livestock are important to boost farmers income.
Injudicious fertilizer use
Union Minister of State for MSME, Labout and Employment Shobha Karandlaje called for integrated farming to ensure livelihood security. She urged the agriculture scientists and the extension workers to bring awareness about injudicious use of agricultural chemicals including pesticides and weedicides, there by ensuring safe food. Due to current changes in the socio economic status of the people, there is more scope for developing novel processing methodologies to produce and supply of ready to cook and ready to eat type of products. The MSME sector can facilitate for the large scale production of value added products of horticultural crops, she said.
Tusar Kanti Behara, Director, IIHR said the country’s horticulture output needs to double to around 700 million by 2047 to meet the demand of Vikasit Bharat. About 5 new crop varieties and three new technologies are being release during the three day horticulture fair, which is expected to attract close to a lakh visitors.