National Horticulture Board Launches Cluster Plan to Double Farmers’ Income

Centre on Monday launched the Horticulture Cluster Development Programme (CDP) with the intention to promote the export of horticultural produces, recognizing 12 out of a complete set of 53 clusters for implementation in a pilot phase. 

In an attempt to raise farmers’ income through horticulture, the Horticulture Board launched the pilot- phase of the Cluster Development Programme (CDP) covering 11 States and UTs, including Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. The 12 clusters include Shopian (J&K) and Kinnaur (HP) for apple, Lucknow (UP), Kutch (Gujarat) and Mahbubnagar (Telangana) for mango, Anantpur (AP), and Theni (TN) for banana, Nasik (Maharashtra) for grapes, Siphahijala (Tripura) for pineapple, Solapur (Maharashtra) and Chitradurga (Karnataka) for pomegranate and West Jaintia Hills (Meghalaya) for turmeric.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday virtually launched the Horticulture Cluster Development Programme (CDP) in the presence of ministers of state Parshottam Rupala and Kailash Chaudhary. Senior officials of the ministry, including Abhilaksh Likhi, Additional Secretary, and Rajbir Singh, NHB Director.

The Ministry has selected 53 horticulture clusters, of which 12 are selected for the pilot project. On the basis of the findings from this pilot project, the programme will be scaled up to cover all the identified clusters. These clusters will be implemented through Cluster Development Agencies (CDAs) which are appointed on the recommendations of the respective State/UT Government.

Regarding its outreach and effect, Union Agriculture Minister said, “doubling farmers’ income is one of the biggest priorities of our government. The CDP will benefit about 10 lakh farmers and related stakeholders of the value chain. With this programme, we aim to improve exports of the targeted crops by approx. 20% and create cluster-specific brands to enhance the competitiveness of cluster crops.”

This Cluster Development Programme (CDP) has huge potential to transform the entire horticulture ecosystem magnifying its world competitiveness by constructing last- mile connectivity with using multi-modal transport for the environment friendly and well- timed evacuation and transport of horticultural produces.