Horticulture, spices and geographical indications

Detail

1. What horticulture is and how big it is

• Horticulture means growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices and plantation crops (tea, coffee, coconut, cashew, arecanut). These are high-value crops grown on small plots with a lot of care.
• India grows both tropical fruits (mango, banana, pineapple) and temperate fruits (apple, pear, apricot, walnut). It can do this because it has many climates, from the hot coastal plains to the cold Himalaya.
• World rank: India is the second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables after China (NCERT: 2020). It still held this rank in 2024-25 [2].
• Horticulture is now bigger than foodgrains: by tonnes, horticulture output has been larger than foodgrain output since 2012-13.
• Total production:
• It grew from 280.70 million tonnes in 2013-14 [2].
• The Final Estimates put it at 370.74 million tonnes in 2024-25. That is 4.51% more than the 354.74 million tonnes of 2023-24 [3].
• Earlier estimates for 2024-25 split the total into fruits 114.51 MT, vegetables 219.67 MT and other horticulture crops 33.54 MT [2]. The Final Estimates raised fruits to 117.65 MT, up 4.13%, mainly because mango and banana output rose [3].

• Productivity (output per hectare) rose from 12.10 t/ha in 2019-20 to 12.56 t/ha in 2024-25 [2].

• World ranks by crop: India is first in banana and mango and second in potato and onion (verify current).

Crop (2024-25, Final Estimates)	Production	Change from 2023-24
Potato	58.57 MT	+2.66% [3]
Onion	30.77 MT	+26.79% (from 24.27 MT) [3]
Tomato	20.60 MT	— [3]
All fruits	117.65 MT	+4.13% [3]

2. Fruit belts of India

Fruit	Main areas	Climate or soil reason
Mango	Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal	Tropical. Needs a dry spell before flowering.
Orange	Nagpur (Maharashtra); Cherrapunji (Meghalaya)	Nagpur is on the Deccan black-soil plateau. Cherrapunji has wet hill slopes.
Banana	Kerala, Mizoram, Maharashtra (Jalgaon), Tamil Nadu	Hot and humid. Needs plenty of water all year.
Lichi and guava	Uttar Pradesh, Bihar (Muzaffarpur for lichi)	Rich alluvial soil of the Ganga plain
Pineapple	Meghalaya	Humid, rainy hill slopes of the North-East
Grapes	Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra (Nashik)	Dry, warm rain-shadow areas of the Deccan with irrigation
Apple, pear, apricot, walnut	Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh	Temperate. Need winter chilling (a spell of cold weather that lets buds break).

• Vegetables: India is a major grower of pea, cauliflower, onion, cabbage, tomato, brinjal and potato.

3. Government support for horticulture

• Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH, 2014-15): a centrally sponsored umbrella scheme. It brought these older programmes under one plan:
• the National Horticulture Mission
• the Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States

• the National Horticulture Board, the Coconut Development Board and others

• Cluster development programmes: a crop is developed in the district or belt where it already grows best, for example Nashik grapes. The cluster gets nurseries, cold storage, processing and export links in one place.

4. Spices: production regions

• Spice: a dried seed, fruit, root, bark or flower used to flavour food, such as pepper, cardamom, chilli, turmeric, cumin and ginger.
• World position: India is the world's largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices [4]. The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) lists 109 spices, and India grows more than 60 of them [4].
• Spices Board (1987): works under the Ministry of Commerce. It develops, promotes and regulates the export of 52 spices and spice products [4].
• Exports:
• Spice exports reached USD 4.45 billion in 2024-25 [4].
• Between 2013-14 and 2024-25, exports grew 88% in volume and 97% in value [4].

• Chilli was the top spice export in 2023-24, worth USD 1,508.94 million [4].

• Leading states by total spice production (2023-24): Madhya Pradesh 3.63 MT, then Gujarat 1.29 MT and Andhra Pradesh 1.28 MT [4]. Much of Madhya Pradesh's output is coriander and garlic. This ranking is a common exam trap, because many expect Kerala to lead.

Spice	Main region	Market or institution	Why it grows there
Black pepper and small cardamom	Idukki and Wayanad (Kerala). Cardamom grows in the Cardamom Hills, in the southern Western Ghats on the Kerala–Tamil Nadu border.	—	Heavy south-west monsoon rain, shade of forest trees, well-drained laterite slopes
Chilli	Andhra Pradesh and Telangana	Guntur (Andhra Pradesh), Asia's largest chilli market	Warm, fairly dry black soils
Turmeric	Telangana and Maharashtra	Markets at Erode (Tamil Nadu) and Sangli (Maharashtra). National Turmeric Board at Nizamabad, Telangana [5]	Warm, humid conditions and loamy soils
Cumin and coriander	Gujarat and Rajasthan	Unjha (Gujarat), the main cumin market	Cool, dry rabi (winter-crop) season. Rain at harvest spoils the crop.
Ginger	Karnataka and Kerala (verify current)	—	Hot, humid climate

• National Turmeric Board: notified in 2023 and launched in New Delhi in January 2025 [5]. India is the world's largest producer, consumer and exporter of turmeric, with more than 62% of world turmeric trade [5].
• History: in ancient and medieval times, pepper and cardamom were shipped from Malabar ports such as Muziris and Calicut on the Kerala coast. This trade drew Arab, Roman and later Portuguese traders (Vasco da Gama reached Calicut in 1498). See the india-international-trade note.

5. Geographical Indication (GI)

• Geographical Indication: a label for goods whose quality, reputation or special character comes from a particular place. The place may give it a certain soil, climate or traditional skill.
• Law: the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999. It came into force in 2003.

• India made this law to meet its duty under the WTO's TRIPS Agreement (the WTO's agreement on intellectual property rights).

• GI Registry: in Chennai, under the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, DPIIT).

• How long it lasts: a GI is valid for 10 years and can be renewed again and again.
• Why it matters: only registered producers from that area can use the name. This stops copies and fetches a higher price.
• First GI: Darjeeling tea (2004-05).

Agricultural GI	State or region
Darjeeling tea	West Bengal (first GI, 2004-05)
Basmati rice	Indo-Gangetic plain at the foot of the Himalaya (Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, western Uttar Pradesh, parts of J&K)
Kashmir saffron	Pampore, Pulwama (J&K), 2020
Nagpur orange	Maharashtra
Alphonso mango	Konkan coast, Maharashtra (Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg)
Coorg orange	Kodagu, Karnataka
Naga mircha (a very hot chilli)	Nagaland
Araku coffee	Araku Valley, Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh
Mithila makhana	North Bihar, 2022

6. Kashmir saffron

• Saffron (Crocus sativus) is a spice made from the dried red stigmas of the crocus flower. The stigma is the part of the flower that receives pollen. The flower blooms in October–November.
• Where: on the karewa plateaus of Pampore, Pulwama district, J&K, about 34°N.
• Karewa: a flat-topped table-land made of old lake-bed deposits (clay, silt and sand).
• These deposits were laid down when the Kashmir Valley was a large lake during the Pleistocene (the last Ice Age period).

• The soil is well drained, and the cold, dry autumn suits the crocus.

• Recognition:

• GI in 2020.

• FAO listed the "Saffron Heritage of Kashmir" as a GIAHS (Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System: a farming system that FAO honours for its traditional knowledge, biodiversity and landscape) in 2011 [6]. See the land-use-farming-systems note.

• Decline (cause → result):

• Long dry spells in autumn mean the corms (bulb-like stems) get too little moisture, so fewer flowers bloom.
• Urbanisation of the karewas (houses and roads built on saffron land) means less area is left for the crop.

• Result: saffron output has fallen sharply.

• Response: the National Saffron Mission (2010) pays for sprinkler irrigation, tube wells, better corms and a spice park to revive the crop.

7. Makhana (Mithila)

• Makhana (fox nut, Euryale ferox) is the seed of a prickly water lily. It grows in ponds, wetlands and low-lying waterlogged land.
• Workers dive into the pond to collect the seeds from the mud.

• The seeds are then roasted and popped.

• Where: in the Mithila region of north Bihar.

• Bihar grows about 90% of India's makhana [7].
• Main growing districts are in the Kosi basin: Supaul, Saharsa and Madhepura. Nearby areas of Mithila and Seemanchal (the Purnea–Katihar belt) also grow it [7].

• Why here: north Bihar's flat, flood-prone plains of the Kosi and other Himalayan rivers have many old ponds and chaurs (low-lying wetlands).

• GI: Mithila Makhana got a GI in 2022. The GI legally protects the name and makes the product stand out in the market [7].

• Makhana Board:
• It was announced in the Union Budget 2025-26 to improve production, processing, value addition and marketing [8].
• The Prime Minister launched the National Makhana Board in Bihar (Purnea) on 15 September 2025 [7][9].
• At the Board's first meeting, a ₹476-crore Central Sector Scheme (a scheme fully funded and run by the Union government) was rolled out for the makhana sector [10].

Prelims Hooks

• India is second to China in fruits and vegetables, and first in banana and mango. Total horticulture output was 370.74 MT in 2024-25 [3].
• Largest spice-producing state (2023-24): Madhya Pradesh, then Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Kerala does not lead [4].
• Spices Board (1987) covers 52 spices. National Turmeric Board HQ is at Nizamabad (Telangana) [4][5].
• Market pairs: Guntur – chilli, Unjha – cumin, Erode and Sangli – turmeric, Nashik – grapes.
• GI law: 1999 Act, in force 2003, registry in Chennai, valid 10 years and renewable. First GI: Darjeeling tea.
• Karewa means lake-bed deposits in the Kashmir Valley. They are linked with saffron (Pampore) and almonds.
• Kashmir saffron: GI 2020, FAO GIAHS 2011 [6], National Saffron Mission 2010.
• Mithila makhana: GI 2022. Bihar grows about 90%. Kosi-basin districts are Supaul, Saharsa, Madhepura [7].
• Trap: oranges grow at both Nagpur and Cherrapunji. Pineapple belongs to Meghalaya, not Kerala, in the NCERT fruit belts.

Mains Points

• Crop diversification: horticulture gives more income per hectare and uses less water per rupee earned than rice or wheat. It has passed foodgrains in output (370.74 MT in 2024-25 [3]). This makes it central to doubling farm income. But the gains depend on cold chains, processing and price stability, as the swing in onion output from 24.27 MT to 30.77 MT shows [3].
• Spice economy: exports doubled in value over a decade (USD 4.45 billion in 2024-25 [4]). Commodity boards (Spices Board, Turmeric Board) and traceability help farmers. Pesticide-residue rejections abroad remain a risk to exports.
• GI as place-based development: GIs such as Darjeeling tea, Kashmir saffron and Mithila makhana link geography (karewa soils, Kosi wetlands, hill slopes) to price premiums. A GI fails without enforcement, marketing and protection of the producing landscape. Building on Pampore's karewas is one example.
• Endangered heritage crops: saffron's fall shows how climate stress (dry spells) and land-use change can undo a GI and GIAHS system. Makhana shows the opposite: wetland-based farming in flood-prone north Bihar turned into a livelihood asset through a Board and a ₹476-crore scheme [10].