Chennai: The horticulture sector, that encompasses a wide range of crops from fruits to plantation crops and flowers, accounts for more than thirty percent of the total agriculture output in India.
“Over the last few years, the sector has gained prominence by contributing a growing share in GVA of the agriculture and allied sectors. The Indian horticulture area has grown by more than 2.6 per cent, per annum, whereas it has witnessed an annual production growth by more than 4.8 per cent over a decade,” according to Prabhat Chaturvedi, CEO, NAFA.
Despite India being one of the largest producers of the horticulture crops, Indian farmers face various challenges to increase the yield output, he said and added that the onset of Covid-19 pandemic has created additional supply-chain disruption for the horticulture farmers.
He said drip irrigation systems has a proven ability to increase productivity by utilizing an optimal quantity of water and fertilisers.