CoMMerCiAl VArieties of VegetABles - Department of Agriculture ...

ashish BahugunasecretaryForewordVegetables are an important source of food and nutrition. Vegetable production constitutesroughly two-thirds of the total production of horticulture crops. Although India is the secondlargest producer of vegetables in the world, our productivity levels are abysmally low. To addressthis, several hybrids and improved varieties of seeds have been developed. At present, area undervegetable hybrids is only about 0.5 million ha. There is, therefore, huge potential for promotion ofregion specific cultivars to ensure higher productivity and quality of produce. Ministry of Agriculturehas been trying to address this issue through National Horticulture Mission, Horticulture Missionfor North East & Himalayan States, National Vegetable Initiative Programme and Rashtriya KrishiVikas Yojna.In this backdrop, the Checklist of Commercial Varieties of Vegetable alongwith their salientfeatures, recommended areas, major producing belts, ecological requirements, etc., brought out byHorticulture Division will serve as an extremely useful guide for farmers, extension functionaries andall other stakeholders. I hope this publication has a positive impact on production and productivityof quality vegetables and helps us meet our food and nutritional requirements. I complimentDr. Gorakh Singh, Horticulture Commissioner for this endeavour.Date: September 20, 2012 Ashish Bahuguna