West Bengal, Top State in Vegetable Production in 2018-19

West Bengal has emerged as the top State in vegetable production in the year 2018-19, according to the data presented at a recent horticultural meeting.

Vegetable production in India

As per the State-wise horticulture production data released at a conference conducted by the Agriculture Ministry last week, West Bengal has produced 29.55 million tonnes (mt) of vegetables previous year as compared to 27.70 mt in the year before. Meanwhile, vegetable production in Uttar Pradesh that held the numero uno position before, came down to 27.71 mt in 2018-19 from 28.32 mt the previous year.

Fruits production in India

Now talking about fruit production, Andhra Pradesh continues to hold on the top position in fruits with 17.61 million tonnes, followed by Maharashtra with 10.82 mt and Uttar Pradesh with 10.65 mt. On the other hand, Andhra Pradesh slightly improved its position, Maharashtra surpassed Assam that occupied second position in 2017-18. Uttar Pradesh also moved several notches up from 2017-18 levels to reach the 3rd rank.

It must be noted that West Bengal accounted for 15.9% of India's total vegetable production in 2018-19 and UP produced 14.9%. Madhya Pradesh (9.6%), Bihar (9%) & Gujarat (6.8%) were the other key vegetable producers.

According to third advance estimates, the area under vegetable cultivation went up from 6.74 million hectare (mh) in 2004-05 to 10.10 mh in 2018-19. Vegetable output increased from 101.25 mt in the year 2004-05 to 185.88 tonnes in 2018-19, with an average production of 18.4 tonnes / hectare. The main vegetable crops grown in the country, which accounts for 11.2% of global vegetable production are onion, potato, tomato, brinjal, cauliflower, cabbage, peas and okra.

With a production of 98.58 million tonnes, fruits account for around 31.4% of the total production of horticulture crops in India. The area under fruit crops cultivation in 2018-19 was 6.65 mh that is 26.1% of the total area under horticulture cultivation in the country.