Introduction:
India has been bestowed with wide range of climate and physic-geographical conditions and as such is most suitable for growing various kinds of horticultural crops such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, nuts, spices and plantation crops. Fruits and vegetables are an important supplement to the human diet as they provide the essential minerals, vitamins and fibre required for maintaining health. Fruits and vegetables account for nearly 90% of the total horticulture production in the country.
India is now the second largest producer of fruits in the world and is the leader in several horticultural crops, namely mango, banana, papaya, cashew nut, areca nut.
Its horticulture production has increased significantly over the last two decades and as per the final estimates, by 2014-15, it has increased to about three
times (2.87) since 1991-92 and to about twice (1.90) compared to the production in 2001-02. As per National Horticulture Database published by National Horticulture Board, during 2014-15 India produced 86.602 million metric tonnes of fruits. The area under cultivation of fruits stood at 6.110 million hectares.
Importance of fruit growing
· Cultivation of fruit crops plays an important role in the prosperity of any nation. It is generally stated that the standard of living of the people can be judged by per capita production and consumption of fruits.
· Fruits crops are capable of giving higher tonnage of yield per unit area than other field crops. For example, a wheat crop produces on an average 12-15 tonnes from an area of one hectare in two crops per year. Even a hybrid rice variety can give only a maximum of 24 tonnes from one hectare land in three crops per year while a banana crop can yield 35-40 tonnes per hectare. Papaya gives 100-150 tonnes per hectare in 2 ½ years which works out of 40-60 tonnes per year and mango gives 25 tonnes from a hectare. From grapevine, a quantity of 60-80 tonnes per hectare in tow harvests per year can be obtained under tropical climate.
I. Nutritional importance
Ø Importance of fruits in human diet is well recognized. Man cannot live on cereals alone. Fruits are essential for balanced diet and good health.
Ø Nutritionist advocates 60-85g of fruits per capita per day in addition to cereals, pulses, egg etc.
Ø Fruits and vegetables are good sources of vitamins and minerals without which human body cannot maintain proper health and develop resistance to disease they also contain pectin, cellulose, fats, proteins etc.
Ø Fruits are found to be a rich source of vitamins and minerals. For example mango, papaya and jack have the important constituent the beta carotene which is actually the precursor of vitamin A.
Ø Mango and papaya fruits have been estimated to be very good sources of readily available beta-carotene, 1990 ug per 100 g in mango and 880 ug per 100 g in papaya.
Ø Oranges, lemons, limes and grape fruits besides being principal sources of vitamin C and folate are rich in a class of phytochemicals called limonoids. This antioxidant has been found to be very effective against cancer.
Ø Sweet orange is the most common food recommended for a patient suffering from very high fever. It has a cooling effect as well as it is easily assimilated.
Ø Peyan, a variety of banana fruit is administered to patients suffering from chicken pox as it brings down the high temperature of the body.
Ø Fruits are the excellent source of Vitamin A (which is good for hair and eyes), Vitamin C (helps in neutralizing free radicals), Potassium (which regulates blood pressure) and Magnesium (helps in relaxing muscles and protecting the heart against diseases).
Ø The nutritional intake from fruits and vegetables is higher among urban population than that of rural population. Along with the urbanization, people are likely to increase their calorie intake at a higher pace through fruits and vegetables—the increase in calorie intake is more than 10% in urban area whereas it is merely 1.89% in rural area over the period from 2004-05 to 2009-10.
II. Economic importance.
Ø High productivity: High yield per unit area: From a unit area of land more yield is realized from fruit crops than any of the agronomic crops. The average yields of Papaya, Banana and Grapes are 10 to 15 times than that of agronomic crops.
Ø High net profit: Through, the initial cost of establishment of an orchard is high, it is compensated by higher net profit due to higher productivity or high value of produce.
o Eg- Wheat/GN/Ragi- 3.0 -4.0 tonnes/ha-25-35,000-00/ha, Grapes/Mango/Banana-20-40t/ha-1.5-2.5 lakh/ha.
Ø Source of raw material for agro based industries: Fruit farming provides raw materials for various agro based industries- canning and preservation (fresh fruits), coir industries (coconut husk), pharmaceutical industry (Aonla, Papaya, Jamun) Transporting and packaging industries etc.
Ø Efficient utilization of resources: Growing of fruits being perennial in nature, enables grower to remain engaged throughout the year in farm operations and to utilize fully the resources & assets like machinery, labour, land water for production purpose throughout the year compared to agronomic crops.
Ø Utilization of waste and barren lands for production: Although, most of the fruits crops require perennial irrigation and good soil for production, there are many fruit crops of hardy in nature, Mango, Ber, Cashew, Custard apple, Aonla, Phalsa, Jamun etc. which are grown on poor shallow, undulated soils considered unsuitable for growing grain/ agronomical crops.
Ø Foreign exchange: Many fresh fruits, processed products and spices are exported to several countries earning good amount of foreign exchange.
SCOPE
1. Need to Increase Production to Meet Dietary Requirements:
According to ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) the per capita consumption of fruits in India is 120 g/day but it is very low (10 kg/capita/year) as compared to other countries like USA (202 kg/ca pita/year), Pakistan (100 kg/capital/ year) etc. The low consumption of fruits is only due to very small fraction of the total cropped area under fruits. India needs to step up the production of fruits till the country becomes self sufficient and process of fruit fall to the level at which both rich and poor can afford to buy. The prices of fruits are so high, to keep fresh fruits out of reach of large population with more efficient production and marketing, the price could be reduced as to increase consumption of fruits and still provide good profits to the grower.
2. Increasing Irrigation Facilities in Maharashtra:
Most of the commercial fruit tress requires perennial irrigation. The area receiving perennial irrigation which was 6% in 1960 reached a level of 12.5 to 13% today. By exploiting all the resources the maximum area that can be brought under irrigation would be 25% of the total cropped area. Thus, there is still scope to increasing irrigated area in near future as government is giving priorities to such to works. This would be definitely help to increase area under fruit crops.
3. Scope for Increasing Area under Dry Land Fruits:
It is not entirely true that all the fruits enquire perennial irrigation. There are many fruit trees like ber, custard apple, cashew nut, aonla etc. which are hardy in nature and can be grown under purely rainfed condition. In India 86 million ha land is available for development of sound technology of rainfed horticulture; there is good scope to put these lands under dry land fruit crops. This would also be necessary to arrest shrinkage of land available for cultivation on per capita basis due to population pressure.
4. Increasing Urbanization and Change in Food Habits:
Increasing urbanization due to industrial growth has increased demands for fruits. Change in food habits to organic food is also being noticed due to education and assured income which has also helped in increasing demands for fruits.
5. Increased Transport Facilities:
Most of the fruits are highly perishable, having less storage life and need quick disposal after harvest. Lack of good transportation system was one of the major constraints in are expansion of fruits. However, now a day quick transport facilities by road rail and air are available enabling growers to transport fruits, to long distance markets in good condition in a short period of time.
6. Increasing in Cold Storage Facilities and Precooling Centers:
Fruits have highly perishable and have less shelf- life. During the peak harvesting period the market gluts reduce prices of fruits. Cold storage facilities help to regulate market supply and stabilizes the market rate. Similarly, to extend shelf life, pre-cooling after harvest is necessary.
7. Scope for Agro- Based Industries:
Even after so much of industrial progress, our country depends on agricultural sectors for employment. Development of agro- based industries to generate employment is a must to keep our economy sound. Besides sugarcane, fruit farming is the only area where we get potential scope to develop agro-based industries like canning and preservation etc.
8. Development of New Techniques:
Use of growth regulators, in-situ grafting, drip irrigation for water economy, tissue culture special horticultural practices like ringing, girdling, notching, bahar treatment, high density planting etc have helped to increase productivity and also to bring more lands under cultivation.
9. Evaluation of New High Yielding Varieties and Introduction of New Crops:
Development of high yielding cultivar of fruits like pomegranate (Ganesh, P-23, P-26, G-137), mango (Ratna, Amrapali, Malika, Sindu), grapes (Thompson seedless), guava (Sardar and L-49), cashew nut (Vengurla No. 1,2,3,4 and 5) etc, which are having specilized feature like disease and pest resistant, high yielding, diverse acclimatization etc, brought more area under fruits. Similarly, introduction of commercial cultivation of some of the new crops like ber anola etc. also indicates scope for area expansion.
10. Availability of Loan Facilities:
Fruit crops being capital intensive, lack of capital was one of the major problems for the expansion of area under fruit crops. Now a day there are several cooperative and commercial banks providing finance for fruit farming which has increased the scope for it.
11. Government Incentive:
Realizing the need for area expansion of fruit crops, the governments have started a very ambitious programme of fruit development under which it gives 100% subsidy to marginal farmers and farmers from backward communities and 70% subsidy for others on establishment and maintenance of fruit orchard for a period of 3 years. This would increase the area under fruits. It is expected that due to this pregame, the area under fruits will increase.
12. Scope for Export of Fruits:
Market surveys in Europe and other markets have revealed that is a good scope or export of grapes, mango, banana, pomegranate, citrus, ber, cashew to gulf and European markers. The availability of these markets would be increase area under these fruits.
13. Availability of cheap labour.
Agricultural sector needs more skilled labour forces to conduct the daily activities. The labour supply in India is much cheaper than the other countries, hence providing greater opportunities for maintaining the different activities of the farm.
14. Very high production of fruits.
The productivity of horticultural crops is much more than other crops like field crop.
15. Suitability of climate for fruits.
India is bestowed with diverse climatic condition such as tropical climate & sub-tropical, temperate climate, which are feasible for almost all the fruit crops.
Scope and Economic importance of plantation crops
Scope for plantation crops:
1. Expansion in non-traditional areas: As population and spice crops have restricted geographical distribution, the possibility of expansion in the traditional areas is limited. However, there is ample scope for expansion of area in non-traditional regions such as North Eastern States where there is irrigation potential. Due to the development of drip irrigation technology new area/non traditional area under plantation crops is increasing.
2. Export potential: Plantation crops earn foreign exchange. Eg. Coir based products, Coir export and Coffee. Main products and by-products not only have export prospects but also have considerable internal demand in several ancillary industries. Earning from export of plantation crops accounts to 27% of total agricultural Commodities and 4.8% of total export.
3. Employment generation: Cultivation of plantation crops provide year round gainful employment on the farm and factories.
Eg. Coconut provides for 78 man days/ha/yr. Amounting to 70 million man days/year in Kerala alone.
4. Crop diversification: These crops provide ample scope for diversification and there by it creates sustainable agriculture.
5. Availability of technology and yield gap: Considerable information on recent
technologies are available on these crops.
Eg. CPCRI Kasargod, Kerala.
NRC on Cashew, Shantigod, Puttur (D.K). and Various Agril. Universities, Res. Stations etc.
Economic importance of plantation crops:
1. Export earnings: Plantation crops occupy less than 3 per cent of the total cultivated area (i.e. 1.82 per cent of total crop land – 4 million ha. out of 143.00 million ha. i.e. around 2.3%).
2. Leading position in the world: India is leading in the total production of certain plantation crops in the world.
Eg: Tea, Cashew, Arecanut, Coconut and Rubber.
3. Employment opportunity: Plantation crops provide direct and indirect employment to many people.
Eg: Tea- 20 lakhs people-
Cashew-5 lakhs people
4. Industrial importance: Production industry supports many byproduct industries and also many rural industries.
Eg: Coconut Fiber (obtained from husk) production in India is about 2.2 lakh tones.
5. Conserving soil and ecosystem:
Eg: Tea and coffee with shade trees planted on hill slopes
Cashew in barren and waste lands – Both are protect soil from water and wind erosion.
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