Vegetables

India's diverse climate ensures the availability of all varieties of fresh fruits & vegetables. It ranks second in fruits and vegetable production in the world, after China. As per National Horticulture Database (Second Advance Estimates) published by National Horticulture Board, during 2020-21, India produced 102.48 million metric tonnes of fruits and 200.45 million metric tonnes of vegetables. The area under cultivation of fruits stood at 9.6 million hectares while vegetables were cultivated at 10.86 million hectares.

According to FAO (2021), India is the largest producer of ginger and okra among vegetables and ranks second in the production of Potatoes, Onions, Cauliflowers, Brinjal, Cabbages, etc. Amongst fruits, the country ranks first in the production of Bananas (26.45%), Mangoes (including mangosteens and guavas) (43.80%)and Papayas (39.30%).

Grapes, Pomegranates, Mangoes, Bananas, and Oranges account for the larger portion of fruits exported from the country while Onions, Mixed Vegetables, Potatoes, Tomatoes, and Green Chilly contribute largely to the vegetable export basket.

Though India's share in the global market is nearly 1% only, there is increasing acceptance of horticulture produce from the country. This has occurred due to concurrent developments in the areas i.e. state-of-the-art in cold chain infrastructure and quality assurance measures. Apart from large investments pumped in by the private sector, the public sector has also taken the initiative with APEDA for setting up several Centers for Perishable Cargoes and integrated post-harvest handling facilities in the country. Capacity-building initiatives at the farmers, processors and exporters levels have also contributed towards this effort.