Integrated Horticulture Development

About Integrated Horticulture Development

In Assam, the horticulture sector covers these crops and activities: (1)Fruits (2) Vegetables (3) Spices (4) Floriculture (5) Potato (6) Onion (7) Medicinal & Aromatics (7) Mushroom cultivation and (8) Fruits & Vegetables preservation and processing. It also takes in Bee keeping, Food processing, Micro irrigation and post harvest management, including Cold-chain development. The state’s chief fruit crops are Banana, Pine apple, papaya, Assam lemon, Orange, Guava, Litchi, Jack fruit and Mango. Potato, Sweet Potato and Tapioca are the main tubers, while spices include Chilli, Turmeric, Ginger, Onion, Coriander, Garlic and Black pepper, alongside many Rabi and Kharif Vegetables. Flowers such as Marigold, Gerbera, Anthurium, Lilium,Tube rose etc., and high value crops such as Straw berry, Passion fruit and Apple ber are steadily gaining ground because they pay better. Mushroom growing, too, is seen as a profitable venture for unemployed youths. Through various Central sector and State sector schemes, the Horticulture & FP Department, Assam is pushing farmers to expand the area under high value commercial fruits, Vegetables, Spices and Floricultural crops, aiming to raise both production and productivity. The Department stresses the production and supply of quality planting material for commercial horticultural crops so that output rises with better quality; to this end, it encourages setting up nurseries under HMNEH and promotes their accreditation.