Potato, Onion, Citrus Fruits Production Rises; Plantation Crops Hit

Horticultural crops output is going up marginally to 313.85 million tonnes (mt) in 2018-19 as compared to 311.71 mt production in the previous year. As per the reports, production of fruits and vegetables such as potato, onion, banana and citrus fruits will go up significantly, the third advance estimates released by the government said on Thursday. 

Vegetable Production 

Potato production is projected to increase by 3.4 per cent to 53 mt and onion by nearly 1 per cent to 23.48 mt, but a marginal dip of 1.8 per cent in tomato output will take the yield to 19.39 mt. 

On the other hand,the production of banana is slated to go up by nearly 1 mt to 31.75 mt, while there will be a decline in the production of mangoes, which will come down to 20.8 mt. 

Citrus fruits production 

Citrus fruits are estimated to see a 5 per cent jump in yield to 13.2 mt while apple production too is expected to top 2.5 mt as against 2.33 mt in 2017-18. 

At 25.49 million hectares, the area under horticultural crops in 2018-19 remained more or less at the same as the previous year. 

Coconuts have adversely hit the plantation crop output, which is projected to be around 16.37 mt as against 18.08 mt in 2017-18. Coconut production is slated to go down to 14.75 mt, which is nearly 10 per cent lower than last year’s 16.41 mt. Cashew nut production is also expected to be down by nearly 10 per cent this year.