Government Schemes for Horticulture and Fruit Development in India

India is the second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, trailing only China. The horticulture sector covers fruits, vegetables, root and tuber crops, mushrooms, spices, aromatic plants, medicinal plants, flowers, and plantation crops. To boost farm incomes, modernize supply chains, and ensure nutritional security, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare implements targeted schemes, missions, and infrastructure programs across the country.

Flagship Missions for Horticulture Development

Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH)

• The Ministry of Agriculture launched the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture during the 2014-15 financial year.
• It functions as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to promote the holistic growth of the horticulture sector, covering fruits, vegetables, roots, tubers, spices, bamboo, and aromatic plants.
• The funding pattern is 60:40 between the Union Government and General States, and 90:10 for North-Eastern and Himalayan States.
• The central government funds 100 percent of the outlay for national-level agencies and Union Territories without legislatures.
• The mission provides financial assistance for setting up nurseries, tissue culture units, protected cultivation structures like polyhouses, water harvesting systems, and post-harvest infrastructure.

Sub-Schemes Subsumed Under MIDH

• National Horticulture Mission (NHM): Implemented in all states and Union Territories except the North-Eastern and Himalayan regions.
• Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States (HMNEH): Implemented across the eight North-Eastern states, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
• National Bamboo Mission (NBM): Focuses on expanding the area under bamboo plantation in non-forest government and private lands to support rural industries.
• National Horticulture Board (NHB): Executes specialized schemes for commercial horticulture development, cold storage construction, and technology transfer.
• Coconut Development Board (CDB): Implements integrated development programs for coconut cultivation and processing across coconut-growing states.
• Central Institute for Horticulture (CIH): Established at Medziphema in Nagaland to deliver technical capacity building and training in the North-Eastern region.

Specialized Fruit and Crop Missions

National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP)

• The Union Government launched the mission in August 2021 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with a financial outlay of 11,040 crore rupees.
• It targets an expansion of oil palm cultivation area to 10 lakh hectares by 2025-26 and 16.7 lakh hectares by 2029-30.
• The mission places special focus on the North-Eastern states and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands due to favorable agro-climatic conditions.
• It provides price assurance to oil palm farmers through a Viability Price mechanism to shield growers from international crude palm oil price volatility.

Clean Plant Programme (CPP)

• Approved under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture to address the shortage of disease-free, high-yielding planting material.
• Focuses on setting up Clean Plant Centres across the country for major fruit crops like apple, walnut, almond, citrus, mango, and guava.
• The programme establishes strict virus-indexing, quarantine testing facilities, and clean mother stock maintenance.

Cluster Development Programme (CDP)

• Designed as a central sector sub-scheme of MIDH implemented by the National Horticulture Board.
• It targets specific horticulture clusters to make them globally competitive through end-to-end integration of pre-production, production, post-harvest management, logistics, and marketing.
• Pilot clusters focus on individual fruits, such as apple in Shopian (Jammu and Kashmir) and Kinnaur (Himachal Pradesh), mango in Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) and Mahbubnagar (Telangana), banana in Ananthapur (Andhra Pradesh), and grapes in Nashik (Maharashtra).

Post-Harvest and Market Support Infrastructure

Operation Greens

• Introduced by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries in 2018 on the lines of Operation Flood.
• Originally launched to stabilize the supply and prices of Tomato, Onion, and Potato (TOP) crops without seasonal price volatility.
• The scheme expanded from TOP crops to cover 22 perishable fruit and vegetable commodities (TOTAL).
• It provides a 50 percent subsidy on transportation and cold storage facilities during seasonal gluts.

Mission Amrit Sarovar and Per Drop More Crop

• The Per Drop More Crop component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) supports micro-irrigation systems, including drip and sprinkler irrigation, in high-value fruit orchards.
• Drip fertigation reduces water usage by up to 60 percent while supplying water-soluble fertilizers directly to the plant root zone.

Comparative Matrix of Core Horticulture Schemes

Research Institutions and Commodity Boards

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Institutes

• ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR): Headquartered at Hessaraghatta, Bengaluru, Karnataka; leads basic and applied research on tropical and subtropical fruit crops.
• ICAR-Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture (CISH): Located at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh; focuses on mango, guava, papaya, and bael improvement.
• ICAR-Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (CITH): Located at Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir; conducts research on apple, pear, peach, plum, and walnut crops.
• ICAR-National Research Centre on Banana (NRCB): Situated at Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu; maintains the largest field gene bank for banana germplasm in Asia.
• ICAR-National Research Centre for Grapes (NRCG): Located at Pune, Maharashtra; develops viticulture practices, export standards, and pest management for grapes.
• ICAR-National Research Centre for Citrus (NRCC): Based in Nagpur, Maharashtra; focuses on mandarin, sweet orange, and acid lime technologies.
• ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI): Located at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala; conducts research on cassava, sweet potato, and yams.

Specialized Statutory Commodity Boards

• Coconut Development Board: Statutory body headquartered at Kochi, Kerala, established under the Coconut Development Board Act, 1979.
• Spices Board India: Formed under the Spices Board Act, 1986, with headquarters in Kochi, Kerala, by merging the erstwhile Cardamom Board and Spices Export Promotion Council.
• Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA): Statutory body under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry that monitors and promotes fresh fruit and processed horticulture exports.

Facts

• India ranks second globally in total fruit production, contributing around 11 percent of the world’s fruit output.
• Andhra Pradesh is the leading state in overall fruit production in India, followed by Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
• Maharashtra leads in the production of grapes, oranges, and pomegranates in the country.
• India is the largest producer of mangoes, bananas, papayas, and guavas in the world.
• The Alphonso mango from the Konkan region of Maharashtra holds a registered Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
• The Grand Nain (G9) cultivar is the most widely cultivated commercial banana variety in India.
• The National Horticulture Board was established in 1984 on the recommendations of the Group on Perishable Agricultural Commodities headed by Dr. M.S. Swaminathan.
• The Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture began operations on April 1, 2014, by subsuming regional missions.
• Spices Board India functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, not the Ministry of Agriculture.
• The National Research Centre for Makhana was established in Darbhanga, Bihar, and now functions under the ICAR-Research Complex for Eastern Region.
• Cold storage projects funded under the National Horticulture Board are eligible for credit-linked back-ended subsidies ranging from 35 to 50 percent of total capital cost.
• The Coconut Development Board operates under the administrative control of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• The Directorate of Cashew and Cocoa Development is located at Kochi, Kerala.
• Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC) uses satellite data to generate crop forecasts for major horticultural crops under Project CHAMAN (Coordinated Horticulture Assessment and Management using geoiNformatics).