Fruits and vegetables production plays a very significant role in the Indian agriculture industry and is a significant commercial horticulture crop. Fruits and vegetables, ornamentals, spices, and medicinal plants are among the important horticultural crops appertaining to the agriculture arena of the country. Despite this importance, its problems involving production methods, quality, and marketing were often recorded within the sector. Faced with these challenges and to realise the huge prospects in the horticulture sector, the Indian government initiated the NHM in 2005.
National Horticulture Mission is a centrally sponsored scheme, implemented across the country for the overall growth of horticulture in the country through increasing production, quality and better post-harvest management of horticulture produce. In the following blog, the NHM will be described in details about its aim and objectives, components and its effectiveness in changing the face of horticulture in India.
National Horticulture mission is a flagship scheme implemented under National Agricultural Development Programme with the aim of achieving integrated growth of horticulture crops.
To promote integrated, sustainable and holistic growth, the National Horticulture Mission (NHM) was launched with the mention of some States that promoted fruit and vegetable production. This mission was intended to focus on horticultural crops and increase production, productivity, and quality. This is one of the central sector schemes implemented in several states of India to assist farmers, horticultural researchers, and industry participants through funds, capacity development and other infrastructural facilities.
The main thrust of the NHM is on the production of quality horticultural produce such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, medicinal plants and flowers. Other objectives of the mission include increasing the quality of produced inputs like seeds, saplings and fertilizers, proper irrigation techniques and pest management skills in farming.
Objectives of the National Horticulture Mission
The National Horticulture Mission has the following well-articulated goals and they are;
- Increase in Horticultural Production: The NHM’s objectives include the enhancement of horticultural crop output to make India adequate in fruits & vegetables & to develop export possibilities.
- Enhancing Productivity: Some of the specific objectives include achieving better yields through use of advance farming practices, enhance on use of equipment/formations as well as planting quality materials.
- Promotion of High-Value Crops: It challenges farmers to abandon the culture of growing their crops and engage in horticultural produce such as fruits, vegetables and flowers in the course of earning higher incomes.
- Improved Post-Harvest Management: It is an important flagship activity of the NHM where the focus has been on post-harvest losses resulting from poor storage, processing, and adequate transportation infrastructure.
- Improvement in Infrastructure: Constructing structures for water supply for irrigation and other services in horticultural production, refrigeration in the supply of horticultural produce and securing market outlets for horticultural products.
- Promoting Organic Farming: To this end, the NHM also lays emphasis on several generally environment-friendly approaches, including organic farming and minimal use of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides.
- Empowering Farmers: The mission aims at ensuring the farmer is more informed on new methods of farming, funding, and getting into better markets.
Components of the National Horticulture Mission
Broad strategies and elements associated with the NHM cover a wide spread of activities and components in response to the horticulture sector. Some of the key components include:
Increase Production and Productivity
A farmer can receive some funds from the NHM to use in adopting best practices on horticulture. This includes including access to improved planting material, organics, and new technologies for pests and diseases control. It also fosters the application of efficient water utilization technologies for instance drip irrigation important for horticulture crops development in areas experiencing water rationing.
Linking improved Post-Harvest Management
In the horticulture sector one of the major problems is high post Farm in terms of quality and quantity. The NHM takes care of this by supporting development of cold chain storage for fruits and vegetables, refrigerated transport, processing units. Such measures make it possible to keep the produce fresh for long and less likely to rot.
Research and Development
Research and Development supports horticulture by promoting research and development to come up with enhanced practices in horticulture. This involves providing grants to groups planning on breeding better quality seeds, disease resistant seeds, and those involved in research on, sustainable agriculture. It work with agricultural universities and institutes to increase the state of the art knowledge of horticulture.
Human Resources Development
A very essential element of the NHM is the endeavour to disseminate training and capacity-building programs for farmers. This includes; professional training on new plant breeding methods, pest control, handling and marketing of produce as well as organic farming. The mission collaborates with extension services and agricultural professionals to guarantee that these farmers have the information that will enable them achieve better yields.
Market Access and Promotion
The NHM also assists in equality improvement for production and post-harvest management as well as in market access. This involves; setting up of horticulture market yards, retail chain, and enhanced transport systems. It also mention the role of connecting farmers to export market to make it easy for farm produce to get to the international markets.
Infrastructure Development
The NHM offer funds to develop structures like irrigation, ware houses, processing centres and marketing outlets. This covers the support that farmers need in order to nurture the produce and market them well.
Impact of the National Horticulture Mission
An exclusively developed programme on the horticulture front, the National Horticulture Mission has initiated a positive change in products in and around India for the horticulture sector and has substantiated considerably the prospects of raising productivity and farming income. Some of the key outcomes include:
More Production in Horticulture
The NHM had contributed in the stabilisation and improvement of production of several horticultural crops and India today ranks among the largest producers of fruits and vegetables. The expansion in productivity has not only met the demands of the domestic markets but also contributed to new export facilities that enhanced the position of India in different international markets.
Improved Farm Incomes
There has been an improvement in income for many farmers due to the change from the usual grown crops to quality horticultural crops. The shift from monoculture farming has also been able to discourage the planting of crops in large areas because farming the same crop exposes farmers to high risks in the market and extreme weather.
The areas to be considered are Reducing Post Harvest Losses
The creation of cold storage and refrigerated transport has contributed greatly towards the low post-harvest wastage that is prevalent, more so in the case of fruits and vegetables. This has allowed farmers to receive better prices on their produce, and it has also prompted an effort to improve food security.
Organizations like NHM have helped promote the practice of organic farming and the use of bio-fertilizers and bio-pests. This has enhanced sustainable horticultural farming and has also minimized the effect of normal farming practices on our environment.
Challenges and Future Prospects
Where the National Horticulture Mission has started yielding results, several issues still persist for the vision to be fully realized. These include:
- Awareness and Adoption of New Technologies: Whereas the technologies used in the NHM are more sophisticated, the farmers do not possess the capacity to acquire them because they cannot afford it, are not informed or because they cannot access the technologies.
- Access to Markets: While the NHM stresses market connections, a number of farmers in remote areas continue to lack appropriate markets to access. Logistics plays a critical role in decision-making since the infrastructure in rural areas is needed today.
- Climate Change: Its horticultural production is highly vulnerable to climate change since changes in rainfall patterns, drought, and floods influence production. These risks need to be minimised by the NHM adopting more climate-resilient methods and tools into its organisation.
However, the future prospects for the Nation Horticulture Mission look bright. With sustained political backing, technological literacy, and improved market connections, the NHM will be even more transformative of India’s horticulture segment and, thus, the livelihoods of growers.
Conclusion
The National Horticulture Mission has provided a vital impetus for the development of the horticulture industry in India by integrating production, quality, and suitability improvements, as well as farm income changes for Indian farmers. Many have also benefited from the infrastructure support, knowledge, and financial support in providing better farming practices, minimizing losses after harvest, and increasing their incomes. Despite the existing issues, however, sustained growth of the NHM will foster the direction that India has aimed towards in horticulture and sustainable agriculture, making the country a role model for the rest of the world.
Further, with technology, climate-resilient methods integrated into the mission, it will be central to achieving food security, exports and the economy. The subsequent endeavours of government, farmers and other stakeholders the National Horticulture mission seems to pave out a bright growing future for horticulture industry in India and make it more prosperous and vibrant.
Sustaining by the government and farmers and other stakeholders, the National Horticulture Mission is going toward a better tomorrow for the horticulture industry in India.
