Vegetable Science

Assam the land of “Blue Hills and Red River”is situated in the north east of India extending from 20° N to 28° N latitude and 90° E to 96° E longitude. The state is bounded by Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, and Meghalaya. The socio-economic condition of Assam is greatly dependent on agricultural production and the horticultural growth rate has high contribution in overall growth in agriculture production. Horticultural growth rate plays a pivotal role in the nutritional security and financial economy of the majority of small and marginal farmers. Assam covered 306 000’hectare area under vegetables which produces 3747.48 000’MT during the year 2022 and the current population is projected to be 36.16 million. Assam is traditionally rich in vegetable production due to its diverse and unique agroclimatic condition conducive for growing a wide range of vegetable crops. However, the productivity of horticulture crop is lower as compared to India. This may be due to traditional method of cultivation techniques, inadequacy of irrigation facilities and weak infrastructure, cash-flow deficits, unorganized market, natural calamities like floods and drought are the prime natural disasters faced by farmers annually in Assam. Assam occupies a geographical area of 7.8 million hectares of which total cropped area is 4.0 million hectares with 5.4% is irrigated of the gross cultivated area and the average cropping intensity of the state is 145.9%. The state grows most of the high-yielding vegetables crops of its own like okra, cucumber, snake gourd, squash, long beans, indian mustard, spinach, coriander, cabbage, cauliflower, capsicum, tomato, carrot etc. except for few crops like onion and potato, which are imported from other states.

In Assam, it is found that area under horticultural crops have high contribution towards increased production. Whereas, in India, the productivity of the horticultural crops is high. Therefore, in Assam effective measures should be taken to increase the productivity exclusively by increasing the production. The aim to increase the horticulture production could be accomplished through utilizing scientific technology and conventional know how in a sustainable manner without expanding area. To become domestically sound and fulfill the challenges of global competition the only way is through productivity growth, cost reduction, vertical area expansion, and by development of region-specific and need-based agro techniques. As a result of the favorable growth in vegetable output, the country will come out with wide opportunities in the processing and export sector, generating job opportunities for the youths. The main vision is to improve the productivity, area, and production of different vegetable crops in Assam in line with the underlying potential of each state, hence improving the living standards of the growers.