As per Third Advance Estimates 2019-20, total land under orange (Mandarin orange/kinnow) cultivation in the country is 4.79 lakh hectare. Major states engaged in orange cultivation are Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Haryana. There is no declining trend in orange production in the country, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar said in the Lok Sabha.
Orange production (in lakh tonne)
| 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 (3rd Advance Estimate) | |
| All India Production | 51.01 | 62.43 | 63.97 |
Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture
Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), a centrally sponsored scheme is being implemented since 2014-15, for holistic growth of the horticulture sector covering fruits, vegetables, root and tuber crops, mushrooms, spices, flowers, aromatic plants, coconut, cashew and cocoa. All states and union territories (UTs) are covered under MIDH.
The Mission envisages production and productivity improvement of horticulture crops including fruits and vegetables through various interventions. Under MIDH, assistance is provided for activities such as production of planting material, vegetable seed production, coverage of area with improved cultivars, rejuvenation of senile orchards, protected cultivation, creation of water resources, adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Integrated Nutrient Management (INM), organic farming, including in-situ generation of organic inputs are taken up for development of fruits and vegetables. Capacity buildings of farmers and technicians are also provided for adopting improved technologies.
Under the Mission, financial assistance is also provided for taking up various activities related to development of horticulture including post-harvest management. For the development of post-harvest management including establishment of pack-house, pre-cooling unit, cold storage, mobile pre-cooling unit, cold room (staging), primary/mobile/minimal processing unit, ripening chamber, evaporative/low energy cool chamber, low cost preservation unit, low cost onion storage structure, Pusa zero energy cool chamber, subsidy at 35 percent for general areas and 50 percent for hilly and tribal areas of capital cost of the project is available for both public and private sector enterprises.
ICAR-Central Citrus Research Institute (CCRI), Nagpur has reported that it has so far trained as many as 42,634 citrus growers and 2,449 officials on countrywide basis under various extension and transfer of technology based programmes.
The institute has reported that since 2003, it has produced seven lakh planting materials of citrus and distributed to 3,000 citrus growers and 16 citrus growing state governments to develop a healthy mother stock.
