Govt must respond to horticulture challenge by taking a more proactive role

Some significant agriculture trends emerging from the ministry's latest crop estimates for 2017-18 call for pertinent policy responses

The agriculture ministry’s latest crop estimates for 2017-18, which indicate that the output of horticulture has outstripped that of foodgrains for the sixth year in a row, also unfold some significant emerging trends in agriculture that call for pertinent policy responses. A notable point in this data is that while the foodgrain harvest has been oscillating, dipping markedly during the back-to-back drought years of 2014 and 2015, horticulture has maintained a steady uptrend, regardless of the monsoon’s performance. The area under vegetables, fruit and other horticultural products, such as spices, herbs, flowers and plantation crops, has also been expanding. Clearly,