Revitalization of Rivers in India Draft Policy - Isha Guru Jaggi Vasudev

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
THE IMPORTANCE OF HORTICULTURE IN INDIAN AGRICULTURE
To address the challenges in agriculture, diversification has emerged
as the best option to address nutritional adequacy, employment
opportunities, farm income enhancement, and use of natural resources.
Among various options for diversification, horticulture has proved,
beyond doubt, its potential for gainful diversification. 35, 36 Any developing
economy needs to take care of food and nutritional security, sustainable
livelihoods, and health care for ensuring inclusive growth. In this
scenario, horticulture stands out as one of the most important subsectors
of agriculture in the country, marking the onset of a ‘Golden
Revolution’. 37
The horticulture sector is a promising area for diversification in
agriculture on account of its high-income generation per unit area, with
low demand on water and other farm inputs, and as an environmentfriendly
production system. The Government of India has accorded high
priority for the development of this sector, particularly since the VIII Plan. 38
The impact has been visible in terms of increase in production of
horticultural crops. The predicted need of horticulture produce by 2050 is
660 tonnes, in view of the growing population. However, the production
of only 240 tonnes in 2010-11 and 300 tonnes during 2016-17 (which is
4.8 percent higher as compared to the 2015-16 estimates), poses a great
challenge for the horticultural sector 39 – in the background of shrinking
land area, water scarcity, erratic and unpredictable rainfall pattern
due to climate change, labor scarcity, etc. Yet, the growing demand for
horticultural produce coupled with good agri-business opportunities
for inputs like seeds, greenhouse design and construction, irrigation,
equipment and, above all, marketing of produce and high value addition,
hold much promise. This changed scenario in the horticultural sector
is expected to become competitive and improve the economy and
profitability. Although climate change poses a threat to agriculture
in general, horticulture-based cropping systems have the potential
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