Horticulture: India’s Rising Hopes in World Market
Indian agricultural market dominates the world’s requirement for farming crops. Horticultural denotes 1/3rd of the gross value of the agricultural crops despite being an underutilised industry. Horticulture crops include cultivating fruits, vegetables, nuts, vegetable-fruit oils, herbs and ornamental plants like flowers, trees and shrubs. They are sustainable crops that check the land’s biodiversity and crop production.
Horticulture is a branch of agriculture that constitutes a small portion of the agricultural production in India, although it stands as the second-largest horticulture exporter in the world. Indian land is alluvial and perfect for the growth of crops. The trading history of spices, fruits and vegetables goes back in history. Indian spices are worldwide famous, and there is immense potential for Indian spices all over the globe. Yet, according to the land area, there is an abundant piece of uncultivated land to grow horticultural crops.
In 2020-2021, India stood as the leading horticulture producer; it is imperative to understand that the horticulture crops require less water and can be a significant income generating yield in coming years. According to the stats, the horticulture industry could touch the $25 billion mark by 2025.
The Agtech companies emphasise horticultural products, as they see the potential in the global market for the daily fruits and vegetables grown on the Indian soil. Common fruits like tomatoes, pomegranates and oranges have a worldwide demand, and India is the second-largest producer with inadequate tech resources. So, high investment and interest from governments as well as private players is required to encourage the horticulture farmers of India. Schemes like Operation Green focus on uplifting the production of onion and tomatoes by introducing Minimum Selling Price (MSP).
It is high time to develop the horticultural industry and use the assistance of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to seed down the foundation for sustainable production and increase the inflow of foreign currency. Over round, there will be more jobs, better income for the farmers and a more significant contribution to the nation’s GDP.