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Prof. Md.Mustafa
Department of Botany
University College of Science
Kakatiya University
Warangal-T.S
Horticulture - Its definition and branches,
importance and scope.
Introduction
▶ India is the seventh largest country- total geographical area of 328.73 Mha
▶ The total arable land available is 144 million hectare -139.3 million Ha (net sown
area) and 197.3 Mha area (gross cropped)
▶ About 60% of the Indian population depends on agriculture for their livelihood.
▶ Agriculture contributes around 17% to the total GDP and provides employment
for approximately 58% of the population.
▶ Horticulture crops constitute a significant portion of total agricultural production in
the country.
▶ Horticulture contributes 30.4 per cent of the agriculture Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) using only 13.1 per cent of gross cropped area.
Horticulture
▶ The term Horticulture is derived from the Latin words: “hortus”
meaning garden and “cultura” meaning cultivation.
▶ Garden is an enclosed or protected area
vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants.
used to grow fruit,
▶ Therefore, in original sense “Horticulture refers to cultivation of garden
plants within protected enclosures”.
▶ At present the horticulture may be defined as “the science and
technique of production, processing and merchandizing of fruits,
vegetables, flowers, spices, plantations, medicinal and aromatic
plants”.
Branches of Horticulture
▶ 1. Pomology/ Fruit science: refers to cultivation of fruit crops.
▶ 2. Olericulture/ Vegetable Science: refers to cultivation of vegetables.
▶ 3. Floriculture: refers to cultivation of flower crops.
▶ 4. Plantation crops: refers to cultivation of crops like coconut, arecanut,
rubber, coffee,
▶ tea etc.
▶ 5. Spices crops: refers to cultivation of crops like, cardamom, pepper,
nutmeg etc.
▶ 6. Medicinal and aromatic crops: deals with cultivation of medicinal
and aromatic crops.
▶ 7. Post-harvest technology: deals with post-harvest handling, grading,
packaging, storage, processing, value addition, marketing etc. of
horticulture crops.
Features of Horticulture
▶ 1. Horticultural produces are mostly utilized in the fresh state and are highly
perishable.
▶ 2. Horticultural crops need intensive cultivation requiring a large input of
capital, labour and technology per unit area.
▶ 3. Cultural operations like propagation, training, pruning and harvesting are
skilled and specific to horticultural crops.
▶ 4. Horticultural produce are rich sources of vitamins and minerals and alkaloids
–nutritionally rich.
▶ 5. Aesthetic gratification is an exclusive phenomenon to horticultural science.
▶ 6. Most suitable for kitchen gardening, backyard farming and subsistence
farming.
▶ 7. Perennial crops
▶ 8. High value crops.
Present status of horticulture in India
▶ Production - In 2022, total Horticulture produce is 341.6 million tonnes and
totalAgriculture produce is 314.5 million tonnes.
▶ Contribution - Horticulture contributes 30.4% of the agriculture Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) using only 13.1% of gross cropped area.
▶ Fruits and vegetables account alone account for almost 90% of the total
horticulture production in the country.
▶ India is the second largest producer of fruits after Brazil. India accounts for
10 per cent of the total world production of fruits. It leads the world in the
production of mango, banana, sapota and acid lime besides recording
highest productivity in grape.
▶ India ranks second in vegetable production next to China in area and
production contributing 13.38 percent to the total world production. India
occupies first position in cauliflower, second in Onion, third in cabbage in the
world.
▶ Areas of cultivation of flowers - More than 50% of the floriculture products are
produced in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and Madhya
Pradesh.
▶ Areas of cultivation of fruits & vegetables - Maharashtra, Karnataka,Andhra
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha.
▶ Exports - India is ranked 14th in vegetables and 23rd in fruits.
Present status of horticulture in India
▶Plays crucial role in providing food and nutritional security especially to
rural and tribal population
▶As a source of nutrients, vitamins, minerals, flavour, aroma, alkaloids,
oleoresins, fibre, etc.
▶ As an economic proposition as they give higher returns per unit area in
terms of energy, money, job, etc
▶ As a source of medicine.
▶Employment generation 860 man days/annum for fruit crops as against 143
man days/annum for cereal crops and the crops like grapes, banana and
pineapple need 1000-2500 man days per annum.
Importance of Horticulture
▶Effective utilization of waste land through cultivation of hardy fruits and
medicinal plants.
▶ As a substitute of family income being component of home garden.
▶As a foreign exchange earner, has higher share compare to agriculture
crops.
▶As an input for industry being amenable to processing, especially fruit and
vegetable preservation industry.
▶ Aesthetic consideration and protection of environment/Biodiversity.
▶ Religious significance.
Importance of Horticulture
▶ To exploit great variability of agro climatic conditions.
▶ T
o increase productivity
▶ To meet the need for fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices, beverages in relation
to population growth based
▶ Adoption of more standardized horticulture production procedures to
increase productivity and profit.
▶ To reduce Post harvest losses.
▶ To meet the requirement of processing industry and to promote processing
Future scope of horticulture in India
▶ Protected cultivation and Offseason cultivation
▶ Contract Farming
▶ To substitute import and increase export.
Future scope of horticulture in India