Horticulture production for the crop year 2020-21 i projected to be a record 329.86 million tonnes (mt), nearly 3 per cent higher than 320.47 mt in the previous year, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said citing the Second Advance Estimates of horticulture crops production on Thrusday.

The area under horticulture crops increased marginally to 27.23 million hectares compared to 26.48 mha in the previous crop year (July to June).

With potato output registering a healthy double digit growth, the total vegetable production during the crop year just gone by is 196.27 mt against 188.28 mt last year. At 102.76 mt, fruit production remained more or less similar to 102.08 mt in the previous year.

Potato production is slated to be 53.69 mt (48.56 mt), while that of onion and tomatoes is 26.92 mt (26.09 mt) and 21 mt (20.55 mt), respectively.

Tomr attributed the increase in production to farmer-friendly policies of the government, hard work of farmers and and research efforts of scientists.

Production of plantation crops increased to 16.60 mt from 16.12 mt last year, while spices production rose by nearly 4 per cent to 10.54 mt from 10.14 mt in 2019-20. Similarly, aromatic and medicinal plants registered a growth of 6.11 per cent to 0.78 mt compared to 0.73 mt in the previous season.

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