Status of Production of Horticultural Crops of NER, with Special Reference to Assam

Transcription

1 Status of Production of Horticultural Crops of NER, with Special Reference to Assam Assistant Professor, Dispur College A B S T R A C T The North-East Region of Indiaconstitutes the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura has vast bio-diversity and is a home to a unique fragile ecology. Tropical rain forest, rich in flora and fauna, spread their arms across Arunachal Pradesh into Assam. The raining season in this region generally commences from March and lasts till the middle of October. Diverse agro climate condition, fertile soils and abundance of rainfall offer immense scope for development in the horticulture sector. This paper is a humble effort at bringing fort the states of production of the horticultural crops of the NER, particularly Assam. The exportable surplus and its potentialities is also discus as well as the potential for the International markets is also found out along with the problems of support for export promotion, transport facility etc. Keywords : Status of Production, Exportable surplus, Potentialities. INTRODUCTION : The North-Eastern Region has its own unique combination of living species, habitats and eco systems, which together make up its diversity rich resource. NER represents six agro climatic zone with vast physiographical variations. Being Indian s Gateway to NE India, Assam Acts as vital link for trade with South East Assam countries and Assam is traditionally rich in horticulture production due to its divers and unique agro climate condition. The horticultural crops of Assam along with NER is listed in the following heading. Fruits: Banana, Jackfruit, Pineapple, Papaya, Lemon, Orange, Litchi, Guava, Mango, Sapota and traditional fruits like Carambola, Leteku, Paniyal, Thekera, RababTenga, Au Tenga, Fig, Mulberry etc. Vegetables: Ash gourd, Bitter gourd, Bottle gourd, Brinjal, Broccoli, Cabbage, Capsicum, Carrot, Cauliflower, Bean, Drumstick, French Bean, Garlick, Knelkhol, Ladies Finger, Lettuce, Musk melon, Pea, Pointed gourd, Pumpkin, Redish, Ridge gourd, Snack gourd, Spinach But, Spine gourd, Sponge gourd, Tomato, Water melon etc. Tuber crops: Potato, Sweet potato, Tapioca, Colacasia, Yam, Katha Alu etc. Spices:Coriander, Ginger, Chillies, Turmeric, Onion, Garlic, Black Pepper, Cumin, Mint, Fennel, Fenugreek, Bay leaf, Curry leaf, Vanilla etc. Flowers:Marigold, Tuberose, Gladioli, Gerbera, Bougainvillea,Mussaenda, Chrysanthemum, Dahlia, Orchids, Antirrhinum, Aster, Balsam, calendula, Carnation, Petunia, Portulaca, Salvia, Zinnia etc. Medicinal Plant:Incliangooseberry, Silikha, Bhumura, Bael, Nefafu, BrahmiSak, MahaBhrigaraj, Madhuseleng, Sarpagandha, Kelmegh, Neem, SafedMusli, Tulsi etc. Aromatic plant:citronella, Lemongrass, Velliver, Patchouli etc. Nut Crops:Areca Nut, Coconut, Cashew nut etc. Plantation crop:betel Vine, Tea, Rubber, Coffee, Agar etc. Ornamental Plants:Mannolia, Rhododendron, Cassia, Erythrina, Calustemom, Decasenda, Myrica, Bauhinia etc. Total production of fruits in this region is estimated about Lakh tones per year which is 5.1% of the total production of the country. On the other hand, production of vegetables comprises 4.5% of the country. The region has a huge potential of horticultural development both in terms expansion and production. 6

2 Objectives of the studies: 1. To find out the status of production of horticulture in the North Eastern states. 2. To assess the exportable surplus quantities of horticulture products in NER. 3. To identify various potential international markets for exporting these products.state wise state of Horticulture production. Assam: Due to its agro climate condition, Assam is traditionally a horticulture based state. Out of the total gross cropped area of 38.43% Lakh hectares, 5.46 Lakh hectares is occupied by the major horticulture crops which is 14.2% of the total gross cropped area. The major horticultural crops in Assam are Banana, Pineapple, Jackfruit, Orange, Lemon, Garlic, Coriander, Potato and Chillies. Plantation crops, Medicinal & Aromatic plants and floriculture are also gaining significant expansion. An analysis of the date published by the Department of Agriculture, Govt. of Assam shows that there has been some growth in Vegetables and Spices in the area under crops wh9ile there has been no major growth has been recorded in Fruit Crops during the last 5 years. The area under production and production of major horticulture crops in the state is provided in the following Table 1 : Area & Production of Major horticulture crops in Assam Table 1 Sl. No. Name of Crop Area under Cultivation (in ha) 1. a) Banana b) Pineapple c) Papaya d) Orange e) Lemon f) Guava g) Litchi h) Jackfruit i) Mango j) Other fruits 4 13,000 9,000 18,000 Production (in MT) 5,81,000 1,99,000 99,000 83,000 59,000 63,000 20, , Vegetables a) Kharif Vegetables b) Rabi Vegetable 3. Spices a) Chillies b) Turmeric c) Onion d) Ginger e) Coriander f) Garlic g) Black Pepper h) Other Spices 4. Tuber Crops a) Potato b) Tapioca c) Sweet Potato 6 1,43,000 15, ,000 20,000 3,000 78,000 3,000 8,000 9,2 23,60,000 10,000 8, ,16, ,43,000 13,000 28,000 7

3 The two major channels of marketing of the agricultural produce in the State are Village Hat Bazar and regulated markets. The Co-operatives are very weak and a large quality of fruits, vegetables and other crops are sold in rural hats. The infrastructure of regulated market is too poor and a very few cold storages are existed while govt. have very less no. of Godowns for use of farmers and traders. The food processing activities are also almost insignificants size and numbers in The state and the private entrepreneurs have not done much in terms of quality improvement and better marketing practices. However APEDA has provided a refrigerator van to the state govt. for safe3 transportation of fruits and vegetables. The market information systems need to be development to improve the access of current market information to the producers. An estimation of the surplus quantities of major horticultural product is provided in the following table 2: Surplus quantities of major horticulture crops in Assam Table 2 Sl. No Name of crop Surplus (in MT) 1 Fruits 2 Spices a) Banana b) Pineapple c) Orange d) Papaya e) Lemon f) Guava g) Jackfruit a) Ginger b) Other spices A large share of these surplus quantities can be easily explored for exports in fresh and processed forms. Ginger offers a tremendous potential for exports from Assam and govt. of India as setup and Agri-Export Zone for ginger in 8 districts of Assam. The other potential areas of export are flowers and cultivation of tuberose, Marigold etc are being taken up for development of floriculture on a commercial basis while commercial venture for the cultivation of hybrid orchids is running successfully in state and taken up markets in the cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata etc. Arunachal Pradesh: Arunachal Pradesh has tremendous potential for development of fruits and vegetables, crop, spices, plantation crops, flowers and medicinal and aromatics plants. The total area of fruits during has been estimated as hectare was a total production of 1,03,234 metric tones and 13,372 hectare under spices with 37,371 metric tones production. The fruits like apple, kiwi, walnut, citrus, banana, pineapple, while spices like ginger, large cardamom, and black pepper, have surplus quantities in production and have huge export potentially along with its orchids and exporting floricultures. Manipur : Due to very small and scattered holdings, Manipur has a very little amount of horticulture produce available as marketable surplus to be disposed off during the total area of fruit crops has been estimated at 27,008 hectares with production of 1,67,738 metric tons while vegetable crops 7,670 hectares with 57,018 metric tons of productions. The surplus quantities are sold through the local traders. The Department of Science & Technology has taken steps for promotion of commercial cultivation of gladious, particularity in Senapati District. 8

4 Meghalaya : Being a difficult hilly terrain Meghalaya has only 10% of the total land available for cultivation. Though the state is deficit in terms of food grains production, it has surplus of cash and horticultural crops. The state has huge potentialities in agro based industries & the substantially surplus quantities of fruits such Pineapple, Orange, Banana etc. can be exploited for exports to international markets very successfully. Mizoram : Mizoram has 41,270 hectares of land covered under horticulture crops with a total production of 1,65,550 metric tons. The state has high potential for the growth of various commercial fruits, like Kiwi Fruit. Nagaland : The total area of horticulture in Nagaland has been estimated as 93,686 hectares with a total production of 55,229 metric tons. The production of horticulture crops in the state has been still low as compare to other NER states. Sikkim : Sikkim has horticulture as one of the major economic activities for the people. It has 400 spices of exotic orchids in the state and the floriculture development is the based in NER and has the potential to develop into a full-fledged export oriented industry. Tripura : Being a very small state in NER, Tripura has various horticultural crops like other states of this region. In respect of market the current scenario is that due to excessive supply of these crops. The price is pulled down and the farmer find it most profitable to arrange transporting their products across the border to Bangladesh in order to fetch a better price. Exports of horticulture produce from NER The exports of horticulture from NER have been mainly of Orange, Citrus fruits, Ginger, Pineapple etc. The geographical condition as well as lack of infrastructure facilities has restricted these exports to only neibouring South Asian Countries. It was also observed that a large quantity of exports also goes through illegal channel and is not recorded. The details of exports of Horticulture products from the NER during are provided in the following table 3, which represented the volume and value of exports of horticulture produces that was taken place through the land custom stations on the borders with neibouring countries. Table 3 Sl. No. 1. Orange/Citrus Fruits Produce Pineapple Other Fresh Fruits Ginger Fresh Onion/ Potatos Problems in the support structure for export promotion 9

5 The horticulture produces from NER requires a major support in necessary building, infrastructure for the development in case of export promotion. There is very low technological base and limited market facilities with virtually no storage facilities the role of government is also highly inadequate. Due to many problems like insurgency and political instability, the growth of private sector in this area has also been poor. Even the traders lack the long term vision and exploit the farmers meager gains. Transport Network in NER The very low level of commercial horticulture in the NER is due to inadequate transport facilities and difficult terrain. Even though there are a number of National Highways another roads connecting the state capitals and district head quarters and towns, the condition of these roads are not so good and gets worse during the monsoon seasons. The distance of majority of the state from Guwahati or Kolkata is long and transporting of goods from these states to then is very expensive. The railway network in the NER states is also too poor and majority of the area are not connected in these states. Conclusion: With the development in market structure by providing correct information to traders along with farmers, providing cold storage facilities, infrastructure building, the government departments of both Centre states have to take proper steps regarding development in the production and export potentialities of the horticultural crops. The farmers too have to develop their urge to learn the best ways to procure horticultural crops and conservation of them. Reference: 1. Borthakur, DhirendraNath, 1992, Agriculture of the North-Eastern Region with special reference to hill Agriculture; BeeceePrakashan, Guwahati. 2. Export potential of Horticultural products from North-eastern states (2005); Agricultural and processed food production exports Development Authority(APEDA), New Delhi. 3. Vasantdesai-small scale industries volume I & 3 towards intrialization. 4. R patelvitraambesan Marketing streagy 5. Entrepreneurs Guide book- IIE Guwahati by J.C. Kalita 10