Articles
REGIONWISE STUDY OF PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES IN INDIA
The objectives of this study were : (a) to examine the regionwise distribution of area under fruits and vegetables; (b) to estimate the percentage share of consumer’s expenditure on fruits and vegetables; and (c) accordingly assess the potential for growth of both production and consumption of fruits and vegetables.
The reference year of this study was 1983–84 and the data mainly from official sources including those of NSS (38th round) were used for the purposes of this study.
Simple tabular analysis brought out that for the country as a whole, only a small % of area was occupied by the crops under study.
The total area under both fruits and vegetables was 2.8% fetching gross returns of Rs. 6507 crores (1983–84) which accounted for 10.18% share in the agricultural gross output.
Except Haryana, Punjab, Sikkim and Tripura, all other regions had large areas of culturable waste land which could be utilised for growing some hardly tree crops.
The successful efforts of N.D. Agricultural University, Faizabad, In this direction is a case to cite.
The examination of the data on consumption revealed that very little was spent on fruits, and vegetables.
However, in all the regions, consumption of fruits and vegetables was higher in urban areas than that in the rural areas, indicating thereby intraregional variations in the nutritional standards of the people.
To avoid malnutrition, it was extremely important to popularise the consumption of these products.
Widespread inter-regional disparities were observed with respect to area under these crops as also the consumption expenditure on the same.
It was increasingly being realised that the horticultural crops could help improve the nutritional standards as also the income disparities.
Further, with the breakthrough in plastic technology, vertical expansion of crop husbandry needs to be fully explored.
Since horticultural crops are highly perishable, it is important to provide proper support system and infrastructural facilities both during pre and post harvest operations.
Though establishment of the National Horticultural Board and a separate Ministry for processing are the steps in the right direction, there is need for more aggressive/innovative approaches which may include public distribution of quality seed and planting material, integrated pest management, refrigerated transport facilities, mobile training camps, mobile processing units along with appropriate fiscal and other institutional arrangements.