The total horticulture production in 2021-22 is estimated to be 341.63 million tonnes (MT), an increase of about 7.03 MT over 2020-21. This is an increase of 2.10%, according to the second advanced estimates of area and production of various horticultural crops released by the Union Agriculture Ministry here on Thursday. Last year, the total horticulture cultivation was in 27.48 million hectares and according to the second advanced estimates, in 2021-22, it could be 27.74 million hectares.
The Centre said while there could be an increase in production of fruits, vegetables and honey, the cultivation of spices, flowers, aromatics, medicinal plants and plantation crops could decrease over previous year. “The fruits production is estimated to be 107.10 MT compared to 102.48 MT in 2020-21. The production of vegetables is estimated to be 204.61 MT, compared to 200.45 MT in 2020-21,” the Centre said in a release.
In the case of onion, the production is estimated to be 31.70 MT against 26.64 MT in 2020-21. Potato production is expected to be 53.58 MT, compared to 56.17 MT in 2020-21 and the cultivation of tomato is expected to be 20.34 MT, compared to 21.18 MT in 2020-21. Farmers of the three crops had agitated against the drop in prices last year. There were also reports of farmers destroying their onion and tomato crops due to drop in prices.
Farmers organisations have also been complaining about scarcity of fertilizers and increase in its price. The Centre, however, had maintained that it is addressing the situation. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said in Bengaluru on Thursday that the country has to depend on the import of fertilizers and the Centre is incurring a subsidy of about ₹2.5 lakh crore annually in the interest of farmers so that the burden of rising prices internationally does not fall on our farmers. “But there must be an end to this situation at some time,” he said.
