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Preface
India is the second largest producer of fruits, vegetables and flowers after China. It is the largest producer of cashewnut and arecanut in the world. The country is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices. It occupies first place in production of mango, banana, litchi, papaya, pomegranate, sapota and aonla, second in limes and lemons and fifth place in pineapple production. The grapes productivity of the country is highest in the world. India has the higher national average productivity in banana and sapota as compared to world average productivity while in citrus, mango, apple, guava, pineapple and papaya, it has substantially low productivity in comparison to the world. In respect to okra, the country is the largest producer; the second largest producer of brinjal, cabbage, cauliflower, pea, onion, and tomato, and it is the third largest producer of potato in the world. Except productivity of tomato, we fall behind in productivity of other vegetables.
Demographic trends indicate continuous rise in population pressure of the country. Our population is touching 1.2 billion. By 2011-12, we need to double horticultural production to the level of 300 million tonnes as against 214.7 million tonnes as in 2008- 09. To gear up production attuned with requirements, National Horticulture Mission (NHM) commissioned in the country during 2004, envisages bringing 33 lac hectare area under new horticultural plantation and by 2009-12 rejuvenation of 16 lac hectare senile orchards under mission mode approach. There are underlying challenges which mar the strategy of hastening production. Environment protection, mixed/multiple cropping, micro-irrigation, INM, IPM, IWM, stress management, organic farming, mechanized farming etc are need of the hour.
Climatic variations often tend to have adverse effect on the yield and production of crops. Efforts have, therefore, been on for harnessing this natural resource through artifical means for increasing crop productivity. One such technology is protected cultivation. This technique is well adopted in Europe and USA and now China and Japan are leading in controlled sphere production of horticultural crops. In India, the technology is making breakthrough in Karnataka and Maharashtra in protected cultivation of pepper, tomato, cucumber, muskmelon, baby corn etc.
With boom in retail sector, there is growing demand of high quality speciality produce. Change in food habit has further hastened the requirements of horticultural produce. With veering vigilance towards health, paradigm shift in dietary consumption pattern is witnessed. The consumption of cereal which was 192 kg/per capita has reduced to 152 kg/per capita in rural India and from 147 to 125 kg/per capita in urban India. Fruit consumption increased by 533 per cent and those of vegetables by 167 per cent. All these have widened the gap of demand and supply and drive towards more production is on incessantly without paying much care for mother earth.
Our earth planet on an average is capable to bear load of 5.0 billion global population only. Let us have a quick recap of productivity of soil. In the wake of making the country self reliant in food production, excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides proved degradative to the innate productivity of the soil. The fertilizer consumption which was barely 70 thousand tonnes in 1950-51 reached to 231.5 lakh tonnes (300% increase) during 2008-09. It though hastened the production, but turmoiled the health of soil. As per FAO report, half of the cultivable land is getting exposed to degradation owing to lack of specific variable management practices. How to preserve and maintain space-time continuum to production system is a big question. Water, the elixir of life, may it be animal or plant, is being exploited beyond recuperation level. The flood irrigation is still in practice when underground aquifer is deepening and the area under dark zone is increasing day by day. The water use efficiency in flood irrigation system is 25-40 per cent only. Our irrigation is restricted to 25 per cent of cultivable land. Insect-pests and weeds have further emerged as major bottlenecks in crop production.
Production sphere has to be managed precisely. This is precision farming. It is defined as the cultivation by adopting technologies which give maximum precision in production of a superior crop with a desired yield levels and quality at competitive production. These include use of genetically modified crop varieties, micropropagation, integrated nutrient, water and pest managements, protected cultivation, organic farming, hi-tech horticulture, and post harvest technology.
Preface
India is the second largest producer of fruits, vegetables and flowers after China. It is the largest producer of cashewnut and arecanut in the world. The country is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices. It occupies first place in production of mango, banana, litchi, papaya, pomegranate, sapota and aonla, second in limes and lemons and fifth place in pineapple production. The grapes productivity of the country is highest in the world. India has the higher national average productivity in banana and sapota as compared to world average productivity while in citrus, mango, apple, guava, pineapple and papaya, it has substantially low productivity in comparison to the world. In respect to okra, the country is the largest producer; the second largest producer of brinjal, cabbage, cauliflower, pea, onion, and tomato, and it is the third largest producer of potato in the world. Except productivity of tomato, we fall behind in productivity of other vegetables.
Demographic trends indicate continuous rise in population pressure of the country. Our population is touching 1.2 billion. By 2011-12, we need to double horticultural production to the level of 300 million tonnes as against 214.7 million tonnes as in 2008- 09. To gear up production attuned with requirements, National Horticulture Mission (NHM) commissioned in the country during 2004, envisages bringing 33 lac hectare area under new horticultural plantation and by 2009-12 rejuvenation of 16 lac hectare senile orchards under mission mode approach. There are underlying challenges which mar the strategy of hastening production. Environment protection, mixed/multiple cropping, micro-irrigation, INM, IPM, IWM, stress management, organic farming, mechanized farming etc are need of the hour.
Climatic variations often tend to have adverse effect on the yield and production of crops. Efforts have, therefore, been on for harnessing this natural resource through artifical means for increasing crop productivity. One such technology is protected cultivation. This technique is well adopted in Europe and USA and now China and Japan are leading in controlled sphere production of horticultural crops. In India, the technology is making breakthrough in Karnataka and Maharashtra in protected cultivation of pepper, tomato, cucumber, muskmelon, baby corn etc.
With boom in retail sector, there is growing demand of high quality speciality produce. Change in food habit has further hastened the requirements of horticultural produce. With veering vigilance towards health, paradigm shift in dietary consumption pattern is witnessed. The consumption of cereal which was 192 kg/per capita has reduced to 152 kg/per capita in rural India and from 147 to 125 kg/per capita in urban India. Fruit consumption increased by 533 per cent and those of vegetables by 167 per cent. All these have widened the gap of demand and supply and drive towards more production is on incessantly without paying much care for mother earth.
Our earth planet on an average is capable to bear load of 5.0 billion global population only. Let us have a quick recap of productivity of soil. In the wake of making the country self reliant in food production, excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides proved degradative to the innate productivity of the soil. The fertilizer consumption which was barely 70 thousand tonnes in 1950-51 reached to 231.5 lakh tonnes (300% increase) during 2008-09. It though hastened the production, but turmoiled the health of soil. As per FAO report, half of the cultivable land is getting exposed to degradation owing to lack of specific variable management practices. How to preserve and maintain space-time continuum to production system is a big question. Water, the elixir of life, may it be animal or plant, is being exploited beyond recuperation level. The flood irrigation is still in practice when underground aquifer is deepening and the area under dark zone is increasing day by day. The water use efficiency in flood irrigation system is 25-40 per cent only. Our irrigation is restricted to 25 per cent of cultivable land. Insect-pests and weeds have further emerged as major bottlenecks in crop production.
Production sphere has to be managed precisely. This is precision farming. It is defined as the cultivation by adopting technologies which give maximum precision in production of a superior crop with a desired yield levels and quality at competitive production. These include use of genetically modified crop varieties, micropropagation, integrated nutrient, water and pest managements, protected cultivation, organic farming, hi-tech horticulture, and post harvest technology.