India’s horticulture production, encompassing vegetables and fruits, increased by 2.32% in FY 2022-23, reaching 355.3 million tonnes, according to the agriculture ministry’s third advance estimates issued on Thursday.
Vegetable production rose to 213.88 million tonnes, up from 209.14 million tonnes in the previous year . The rise in production is doe to rise in potato and tomatoes.
Onion production in FY 2022-23 is estimated to have reduced by 4.7% to 30.2 million tonnes. There is no specific data on onion output was provided by the agriculture ministry which gives detail insights.
The predicted kharif and late kharif onion output for the 2023-24 crop year is 30.5 million tonnes, which is lower than the previous year’s projection of 41.7 million tonnes. The drop is due to unpredictable monsoon conditions.
Sowing of winter onions for the 2023-24 rabi season declined by up to 20% in major producing regions (Maharashtra and Karnataka) due to irregular rainfall patterns and low reservoir levels, which hampered irrigation.
State governments were asked to enhance onion farming to overcome shortages during the kharif and late kharif seasons, with the goal of stabilizing onion prices.
Food inflation rose to 9.53% in December, up from 8.70% in November and 6.61% in October, according to the consumer food price index.
Potato output is expected to reach 60 million tonnes in fiscal year 2022-23, up from 56.2 million tons the previous year.
Tomato output is predicted to stay at 20.4 million tons, as it did last year.
Fruit production is estimated to have increased to 109.5 million tonnes in FY 2022-23, up from 107.5 million tonnes in 2021-22.
The area under horticulture crops marginally increased to 28.34 million hectares from 28.04 million hectares in the previous year.
