Andhra Pradesh plans big push to horticulture

Vijayawada: The state government is planning to give a big boost to the horticulture crops in 2021 as the state is one of the leading producers of banana, mango, papaya, musk melon, water melon, sweet lemon, guava and a wide variety of vegetables like tomato, ladyfinger, onions, green chillies, brinjal. The share of Andhra Pradesh is 11.8 per cent in the country in production of vegetables and fruits in 2019-20.

Rayalaseema districts are contributing a major share in cultivation of horticulture crops, said MVS Nagireddy, vice-chairman of the Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Mission. He said Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has officially announced 2021 as the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables 2021 (IYFV) with the idea to improve healthy and sustainable food production through innovative technology and to reduce food loss and technology.

Andhra Pradesh has emerged as one of the major producers of fruits and vegetables in India. Total fruit and vegetable production in the state was 257.75 lakh metric tonne (MT) in 2019-20. The share of fruit production is 180.04 lakh MT. Banana output is 62.97 lakh MT, mango 50.76 lakh MT, orange, 22.41 lakh MT, Papaya 18.08 lakh MT, sweet lemon 6.57 lakh MT, musk melon 4.05 lakh MT, watermelon 3.74 lakh MT and Guava 3.3 lakh MT. The state also is one of the leading cultivators of vegetables. Vegetables production was 77.71 lakh MT for the year 2019-20. Tomato is one of the important crops in the state with production 26.67 lakh MT. Anantapur, Kurnool, Chittoor and Kadapa are top tomato cultivating districts in the state. It is also cultivated in Krishna, West Godavari and other districts. Onion production was 9.8 lakh MT, green chillies 6.32lakh MT, cucumber 8.69 lakh MT, brinjal 4.32 lakh MT and ladyfinger output was 3.32 lakh MT.

These fruits and vegetable crops account for 11.8 per cent of the total production of fruits and vegetables in the country. M V S Nagireddy said the state government is committed to increase production levels through introduction of new crop varieties, innovative practices, new technologies, introduction and encouragement to use of new machinery, adopting post-harvest technology including cold storages, improving infrastructure facilities and market assurance.

Joint director of horticulture P Hanumantha Rao said people were gradually understanding the importance of consumption of fruits and vegetables and it will give a big boost to the production. He said the number of vegetarians was increasing in our society in recent years due to health and other reasons.

Health consciousness has also increased considerably after corona pandemic and the government is encouraging the horticulture crops for a long time by giving subsidies and extending support to micro irrigation and drip irrigation in the water scarcity areas, he said.

TOP IN FRUIT & VEGGIES CULTIVATION

♦ AP is one of the leading producers of fruits and vegetables accounting for 11.8% of total output in the country

♦ UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation declares 2021 International Year of Fruits and Vegetables

♦ AP Agriculture Mission Vice-President M V S Nagireddy says AP govt aims to raise production levels through encouraging introduction of new varieties, technology, innovative practices, adopting post-harvest technology including cold storages and other measures