Horticulture Department of Telangana Plans to Maximize Production of Vegetable Crops

A vegetable is something that we purchase every day either from the shop or push cart vendor. But have you ever wondered where these vegetables come from? The vegetables on your plate mostly come from areas such as Vikarabad, Rangareddy, and Sangareddy.

Rangareddy is considered as the highest production of vegetable crops (34000 MTs) per annum on 28,000 acres, whereas Vikarabad and Sangareddy production is 25,000 MTs and 13,000 MTs respectively.

According to the Horticulture Department data, the Rangareddy, Vikarabad, and Sangareddy hold 74,000 acres under vegetable crop production whereas Hyderabad requires 1.51 lakh acres to meet the requirement. Hence, there is a shortage of nearly 50 per cent between demand and supply. To fill this gap, vegetables are being imported from states such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and others.

The Horticulture department is taking different measures including awareness and training programs for farmers to enhance the production of vegetables. Additionally, the department is supplying 5,000 to 10,000 disease-free and high-quality seedings to assist farmers.

In Rangareddy, a massive number of vegetables are produced in Ibrahimpatnam, Yacharam, Shadnagar, and Maheshwaram. Moreover, the oil palm is framed on 80,000 acres across the state, including Rangareddy. Likewise, flowers are grown on 10,000 acres whereas the requirement is 30,000 acres to meet the demand.

As per the official data, the Horticulture department has contributed 38 per cent which is equal to Rs 28,160 crore to the total gross value added (GVA) of the state which is seen as a significant input to the State’s economy. Some highly-grown vegetable crops here are root vegetables, gourds, leafy vegetables, beans, open-cultivated vegetables, exotic vegetables, and others.