Production of horticulture crops likely to touch 295 million tonnes

NEW DELHI: Production of horticulture crops such as fruit and vegetables have seen an increase over the previous year. The production is estimated at 295 million tonnes in 2016-17 crop year ending June, shows the second advance estimates released by the agriculture ministry on Tuesday.

Compared to the previous year when production was 286.18 million tonnes, the harvest is 3.1% higher. It is also 2.7% higher over the first advance estimate issued in February largely due to rise in onion production.

According to the second advance estimate, the production of vegetables is estimated to be around 175 million tonnes, which is 3.5% higher than previous year and 3.8% higher than the first estimate. Fruit production during the current year is estimated to be 93 million tonnes -- 2.9% higher than the previous year.

“This year, onion, potato and tomato farmers did not have good returns and crops were sold below production cost. The government figures are one thing but the government should ensure farmers get remunerative prices for their produce,” said Ashok Gulati, agricultural economist and former chairman of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices.

Production of onion is estimated to be around 21.6 million tonnes compared to 19.7 million tonnes in the first estimate. The production is 3% higher than the previous year in major onion producing states such as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat.

Among major vegetables, production of potatoes and tomatoes also rose. Potato production increased from 43.4 million tonnes to 46.5 million tonnes in the current year which is 7.2% higher than the previous year. Further, tomato production in 2016-17 is estimated to be around 19.7 million tonnes which is 5.1% higher than the previous year.

The data also showed that area under horticulture crops saw an increase of 1.9% over the previous year and 2.3% over the first advance estimate covering 24.92 million hectares in 2016-17. Production of flowers also rose by 2.9% to be around 2.2 million tonnes. Similarly, production of aromatics & medicinal plants, estimated to be around 1.03 million tonnes, is higher by 0.8% than the previous year.

Production of plantation crops such as areca nut, cashew nut, cocoa and coconut is estimated at 17 million tonnes, which is 1.3% higher than the previous year.