Growth and variability in area, production and productivity of major fruits in Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

Horticulture plays an important role in the hill economy of Himachal Pradesh. Therefore, a study was conducted to examine growth rates and variability in three parameters of fruits viz; area, production and productivity for 2005-06 to 2019- 20. The results revealed that apple, mango, kagzi lime, plum and orange have emerged as the important fruit crops accounting for 79.93 per cent of area and 93.01 per cent of fruit production during 2019-20 in the state. Kagzi lime and plum fruit crops showed positive and significant growth rates in area, production and productivity. Along with this, the results revealed that all fruits had positive and significant growth in area (1.39% p.a.) with minimal variability (1.08%). In contrast, the productivity and fruit output (3.16% p.a.) exhibited great variability and nonsignificant growth rates. The findings drew the attention of planners, policy makers and research & extension agencies to focus on enhancing the production and productivity of all selected fruits as the productivities of all the selected crops were quite lower than the national and world averages.