What makes Maharashtra click in horticulture. On Thursday,Maharashtra was awarded the top prize in Delhi for best all-round development of horticulture by magazine Agriculture Today. The state has consistently been on top in horticulture production over the past few years; now it has also taken the lead in terms of infrastructure,technology and exports,as has been acknowledged by the award selection committee headed by noted agronomist M S Swaminathan. With 10 percent of its total area under horticulture,Maharashtra has a total annual production of 104 million tonnes. The state has fruits under 15 lakh and vegetables under 5 lakh hectares. Horticulture today accounts for 25 per cent of the states total agriculture GDP, says additional chief secretary (agriculture) S K Goel. Horticulture,however,needs latest pre- and post-harvest technologies and infrastructure to become sustainable. Maharashtra has taken care of these support systems so well that the area has gone up from 2.5 lakh hectares before 1991-92 to 18 lakh hectare in 2013, he adds. Horticulture in the state got a boost in 1990-91 when it was linked to the then Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS),pioneered by Maharashtra and adopted in recent years by the Centre in the form of MNREGA. Small and marginal farmers were given all inputs free and their labour costs too were covered to encourage them to grow orchards. This led to huge increase in crops such as oranges and other citrus fruits (2 lakh hactares) in Vidarbha and grapes (1 lakh hectares) in western Maharashtra. Mango (4.5 lakh ha),cashew-nuts (1.5 lakh ha),onions (2 lakh ha),pomegranate (80,000 ha) and banana (1 lakh ha) orchards blossomed in various parts of the state. The state now leads the production chart in all these except mango. Production-wise figures in tonnes in that order are pegged around 8 lakh,24 lakh,20 lakh,2.5 lakh,50 lakh,5 lakh and 60 lakh. This has become possible through a meticulous implementation of various training and technology scheme, says Goel. Maharashtra is perhaps the only state where farmers are imparted training in horticulture practices. Further,we have adopted a public-private partnership model in fruit and vegetable cultivation. There are many technological programmes to develop quality,disease-free saplings,export facilities,pesticide residue monitoring,irradiation and vapour heat treatment [which removes spongy tissues technologies that ensures our exported fruits are not rejected.. Not a single exported consignment of grapes and pomegranate has returned rejected this year. We are creating Rs 250-crore export facilities at 44 different locations in the state,many of which are ready or will be ready soon. It will facilitate better export management, says Goel. Today,Maharashtra boasts seemingly unsurpassable figures of 98 per cent of countrys entire grape and pomegranate exports,and one-third of countrys total onion production. For the first time,banana,too,has been exported to countries where it never used to be exported. Also,Maharashtra leads the chart with its 15,000 greenhouses,according to Goel. One of the main contributing factors for the horticulture growth has been drip irrigation. We have the highest horticulture area under drip in the state. Its almost 100 per cent for grapes,pomegranate and banana, Goel says. Initiatives QUALITY SAPLINGS: 1,371 government and private nurseries produce over 5 cr saplings annually. National Horticulture Mission sponsors 26 tissue culture units with a production capacity of 13-15 cr plants,also sanctioned 19 tissue culture labs COMMUNITY TANKS: Micro-irrigation for about 10 lakh hectares,6,490 community tanks,5,400 more under construction. POST-HARVEST MANAGEMENT: 2,412 pack houses,45 cold storage units,10 pre-cooling units,286 processing units,26 ripening chambers,210 low-cost onion storage unist PESTICIDE RESIDUE: 19,000 cultivators registered for online Grapenet programme to promote grape export. Laboratories established at Pune and Nagpur. Similar programmes Anarnet for pomegranates and Winenet for wine grapes. Vegnet for vegetables on the anvil. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS: Assured for Nashik grapes and Mahabaleshwar strawberry,15 other crops in line. CERTIFICATION: Good Agricultural Practices initiative for grape,mango and pomegranate. WEATHER INSURANCE: Compensation under pilot scheme launched in 2011-12. So far,Rs 77 crore paid. MANGO AND CASHEW BOARDS: Formed VEG INITIATIVE FOR URBAN AREAS: Mumbai,Pune and Nagpur.
