Rs 15,000 cr horticulture mission onward

The Rs 15,000 crore horticulture mission is gaining steam with agriculture scientists coming up with dos and dont's for preventing the colossal waste of fruits and vegetables in India in the absence of value addition and preservation.

India has emerged as a major producer of horticultural crops and is presently producing 50 million tonnes of fruits and about 100 million tonnes of vegetables.

"We are working on linkages for intensifying efforts for value addition in fruits and vegetables as part of the horticulture mission", a senior agriculture ministry official said.

The official said the allocations for horticulture development are being disbursed expeditiously and the farmers are being ably guided on measures to boost the quality of their plants.

According to G Kalloo, deputy director general (horticulture and crop science) at the central institute for subtropical horticulture in lucknow, it is important to concentrate on drying, dehydration, bottling and canning among other things.

The demand for puree, juice, candy, potato chips, potato wafers, canned beans, frozen peas, etc have grown enormously and the value addition in horticulture will give a boost to the incomes of farmers, Kalloo said.