Introduction
Horticulture is the
science and art of growing plants (fruits, vegetables, flowers, and any other
cultivar). Horticulture is the growing of flowers, fruits and vegetables, and
of plants for ornament and fancy. Simply, horticulture is the art and science
of plant production for both beauty and utility.
Horticulture is a science
of studying garden plants. The world Horticulture is derived from two Latin
words viz. Hortus means garden and Culture means knowledge of growing these
crops. Horticulture is an aesthetic science that deals with the important crops
which are grown in the gardens e.g. vegetable crops in vegetable garden, fruit
crops in fruit orchards.
Horticulture, literally
garden culture, is a part of crop agriculture that also includes agronomy and
forestry. By tradition, horticulture deals with garden crops such as fruits,
nuts, vegetables, culinary herbs and spices, beverage crops, and medicinals, as
well as ornamental plants. Agronomy is involved with grains, pasture grasses
and forages, oilseeds, fiber crops, and industrial crops such as sugarcane,
while forestry is involved with trees grown for timber and fiber as well as the
incidental wildlife. The edible horticultural crops are used entirely as human
food and are often utilized in the living state and thus highly perishable. In
contrast, edible agronomic crops are often utilized in the nonliving state, are
highly processed, are often used for animal feed, and usually contain a high
percentage of dry matter. The precise distinction between horticultural and
agronomic crops is traditional. In general, horticultural crops are intensively
cultivated and warrant a large input of capital, labor, and technology per unit
area of land, but in modern agriculture, horticultural crops may be extensively
grown while many agronomic crops are now intensively cultivated. Many crops are
claimed by more than one discipline. Horticulture is practiced in large
agricultural operations, in small farm enterprises, and in home gardens.
Horticultarists work with
fruits, vegetables, ornamental plants, and turfgrass, in a variety of labs,
fields, golf courses, and garden centers. Rather than staple crops,
horticulture focuses on fruit, vegetables, flowers, and landscape plants. It also
includes plant conservation, landscape restoration, soil management, landscape
and garden design, construction, and maintenance, and arboriculture.
Horticulturists apply
their knowledge, skills, and technologies used to grow intensively produced
plants for human food and non-food uses and for personal or social needs. Their
work involves plant propagation and cultivation with the aim of improving plant
growth, yields, quality, nutritional value, and resistance to insects,
diseases, and environmental stresses. They work as gardeners, growers,
therapists, designers, and technical advisors in the food and non-food sectors
of horticulture. Horticulture even refers to the growing of plants in a field
or garden.
Horticultural Arts
Horticulture is associated
with a number of intensive practices that collectively make up the
horticultural arts. These include various propagation techniques incorporating
special plant structures such as bulbs, corms, or runners; the use of layers or
cuttings; budding and grafting; and micropropagation involving tissue culture.
Cultural practices include soil preparation, direct planting or transplanting;
fertilization; weed, disease, and pest control; training and pruning; the use
of controlled environments such as greenhouses or plastic tunnels; applications
of chemical growth regulators; various harvest and handling methods; and
various postharvest treatments to extend shelf life. Other practices associated
with horticulture are breeding and genetic techniques for crop improvement,
marketing methods, and food processing. Ornamental horticulture, not considered
here, includes added practices associated with landscape architecture and the
floral arts. While horticulture is an ancient art with many of its practices
empirically derived, present-day horticultural arts are intimately associated
with science, so that modern horticultural science is one of the most advanced
parts of agriculture. Recently some horticultural growers have attempted to
reduce or even eliminate reliance on inorganic fertilizers and pesticides
through the incorporation of ecologically based practices (integrated crop
management).
Horticulture involves Nine areas of study, which can be
grouped into two broad sections: ornamentals and edibles,
1. Arboriculture is the study of, and the selection, plant, care, and
removal of, individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants.
2. Turf management includes all aspects of the production and
maintenance of turf grass for sports, leisure use or amenity use.
3. Floriculture includes the production and marketing of floral crops.
4. Landscape horticulture includes the production, marketing and
maintenance of landscape plants.
5. Olericulture includes the production and marketing of vegetables.
6. Pomology includes the production and marketing of pome fruits.
7. Viticulture includes the production and marketing of grapes.
8. Oenology includes all aspects of wine and winemaking.
9. Postharvest physiology involves maintaining the quality of and
preventing the spoilage of plants and animals.
Major Divisions of
Horticulture
-Production of edible
fruit crops ---Pomology pomum =
fruits, logy = science,
-Production of vegetable
crops ---Olericulture oleris = pot
herb
-Production of ornamental
crops ---Floriculture and Landscaping
-Preservation of
horticulture produce for consumption ---Fruit
Technology
-Pomology:
is a branch of horticulture which deals with various aspects of fruits starting
from rising of saplings, growing them properly and providing various
intercultural operations, the term pomology is a combination of two Latin words
pome-fruits and logos-culture. “Poma” in Greek means fruits later subsequently
transfer in to „Pome” in Latin word means fruits, logos- study.
-Floriculture:
is a branch of Horticulture which deals with commercial growing, marketing and
arranging flowers and ornamental plants, which includes annuals, biennials and
perennials viz., trees, shrubs, climbers and herbaceous perennials.
-Landscaping:
is the design and alternation of a portion of land by use of planting material
and land reconstructions.
-Post Harvest Technology -It deals with post harvest handling, grading,
packaging, storage, processing, value addition, marketing etc. of horticulture
crops
Careers in Horticulture
Earning a degree related
to horticultural science will prepare you for a variety of careers. Whether you
want to work in a lab, a field, a floral shop, at an arboretum, at a botanical
garden, on the golf course, or something completely different, the
possibilities are endless. Both plant science and food systems majors begin
their career experiences early with a required internship and are notified of
many other internships and part-time jobs throughout the year.
Some job titles in
horticulture include:
1.
Arboretum
Director/Associate
2.
Botanical Gardens
Manager/Grounds Associate
3.
Business Owner
4.
Community Garden
Planner
5.
Entrepreneur
6.
Extension
Educator
7.
Floral Designer
8.
Geneticist
9.
Greenhouse
Manager
10. Garden Manager
11. Garden Center Operations, Sales, Maintenance,
Landscaping
12. Golf Course Superintendent
13. Horticulturist
14. Horticulture Therapist
15. Horticulture Marketing/Sales Manager
16. Landscape Design
17. Lawn Maintenance Foreman/Technician
18. Plant Biologist
19. Plant Breeder
20. Produce Retail Team Member
21. Professor
22. Research Scientist
23. Urban Garden Manager
Areas related to
horticulture for providing employment
1.
Fruit cultivation
2.
Vegetable
cultivation
3.
Plantation and
spice crop cultivation
4.
Vegetable F1 seed
production
5.
Vegetable and
flower seed production for export
6.
Cut flower
production and floriculture
7.
Landscaping
8.
Nursery raising
9.
Tissue culture
10. Marketing
11. Processing of horticulture produce
12. Government development departments
13. Ancillary services (fertilizers, tools, insecticides
–pesticides , irrigation equipments, chemicals like growth regulators etc.
–manufacture , sale essence and consultancy services)
14. Research and education
Importances
1. Per Unit Area Yield is High:
As compared to the field
crops per hectare yield of horticulture crops is very high.From an fruit area
of land more yield is obtained e.g. paddy gives a maximum yield of only 30
q/ha, while Banana gives 300 to 500 q/ha, Pine apple 450 q/ha and Grapes 90 -
150 q/ha. In present shortage of food and scarcity of land by growing fruits
more food can be produced.
2. Importance of fruits in human diet
- From human nutrition
point of view, horticulture is most important to our daily living. Many of the
horticulture crops and their products find place in our meals and diet.
-Human body requires
vitamins, minerals, proteins, energy etc. for its health. All these are
supplied by horticultural crops. Fruits and vegetables are the chief sources of
vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats, proteins etc. are recognized as
protective foods as they are necessary for the maintenance of human health.
- A person should consume
atleast 120 g of fruits per day as per Indian Council of Medical Research, but
the consumption of fruits per capta in India is still low. However, the
availability of fruit is 172 g per day in our country. In countries like Italy,
France and USA, the consumption is 308, 232 and 223 g / day respectively.
-Deficiency of any minerals and nutrients is
depicted by the human body by giving typical symptoms. The great majority of
people obtain most of their carbohydrates and proteins from cereals and pulses
but their diets must also contain significant amount of fruits to ensure that
they get the vitamins which are not provided by the staple cereal foods.
- High Returns per Unit
Area: From one unit area of land more income will be obtained e.g. Well kept
orchard of apple, grapes and sweet orange can give as much as Rs. 25,000 per ha
as net income.
- A Free Grower/Labour
Remains Engaged for the Whole: An opportunity for maintaining labours
throughout the year like the cereals where one cannot keep him self and employ
the labours during the slack season.
- Best Utilization of
Waste Land: Some fruit crops can offer best utilization of waste land crops
like wood apple, custard apple, karonda, litchi etc. can be grown in such
areas.
- To meet the annual
calories requirements of food per year one would have to cultivate about 0.44
ha of wheat or 0.03 ha of banana or 0.06 ha of mango for satisfying once need.
Thus mango produces about 9 times more food energy than the wheat produced per
unit area.
3. Raw Material
for Industries: Fruit farming is the
base for several industries like canning, essential oils etc which in turn
provide work for more people.
4. Use of Undulating Lands: Fruit growing can be practiced in places where the
gradient is uneven or where the land is undulating and agronomical crops cannot
be cultivated. In Konkan region, mango and cashew are cultivated on large scales
on hilly and hill back area.
5. Fruits and vegetables
are the important energy giving material to the human body
6. As
compared to field crops Horticultural crops give more returns per unit area
(More yield in terms of weight and money).
7. Horticulture crops are
important as their nutritional status is high. Particularly fruits and
vegetables provide high amount of vitamins and minerals to us.
8. Horticulture is
important as it beautifies the surroundings.
9. Horticulture crops are
suitable for small and marginal farmers.
10. The varieties of crops
are available in the Horticulture section with wide range of uses.
11. Horticultural plants
improve environment by reducing pollution, conserves soil and water and improve
socio-economic status of the farmer.
12. As a source of
variability in produce.
13. As a source of
nutrients, vitamins, minerals, flavour, aroma, alkaloids, oleoresins, fibre,
etc.
14. As a source of
medicine.
15. As an economic
proposition as they give higher returns per unit area in terms of energy,
money, job, etc.
16. Employment generation
860 man days/annum for fruit crops as against 143 man days/annum for cereal
crops and the - crops like grapes,
banana and pineapple need 1000- 2500 man days per annum.
17. Effective utilization
of waste land through hardy fruits and medicinal plants.
18. As a substitute of
family income being component of home garden.
19. As a foreign exchange
earner has higher share compare to agriculture crops.
20. As an input for
industry being amenable to processing, especially fruit and vegetable
preservation industry.
21. Aesthetic
consideration and protection of environment.
22. Religious
significance.
Scope of Horticultural crops
- Varied agro climatic
conditions in Nepal, allows growing different Horticultural crops in different
regions.
- Increasing irrigation
facilities provide more scope for growing Horticultural crops.
- Availability of
technical information regarding production of Horticultural crops will provide
congenial condition for growing
these crops.
- Increasing communication and transport
facilities provide greater markets to Horticultural crops.
- There is scope for export of fresh and
processed products.
- Greater demand for Horticultural
commodities in local markets.
- Facilities provided by the government
helps farmer to replace their traditional crops with Horticultural crops.
- Development of financial institutions,
co-operatives in rural areas. increasing returns from these crops.
-Increasing Investigation Facilities:
The agricultural sectors
getting priority nowadays. There is definitely positive factor in keeping hope
for bringing area under irrigation, Many irrigation projects, major and minor
are in progress and many would be undertaken in near future.
- Area Under Rain Fed:
Horticultural crops are
not required the perennial irrigation.
-Transport and Marketing Facilities:
It is obvious that
horticultural produce is perishable and mostly consumed as fresh and need quick
disposal after harvest.
-Cold Storage Facilities and Preservation:
During peak period of a
particular crop there is glut in market and prices realized are very low. This
can be overcome by storing the fruits in cold storage. Many preserved products
have export potential e.g. Jam, Jelly, Juices syrups etc.
-New Techniques for Maximization of Production:
This helps in increasing
the yield.
i) Use of Growth regulator
and gurdling increasing yield by 50% in grapes.
ii) Use of growth
regulators.
- Availability of Cheap Labour:
In Nepal because of large
population man power is easily available and as compared to other countries the
labour is cheap which definitely help in keeping down the production cost.
-Loan Facilities:
Many Commercial Banks and
Government provide loans at low interest for the promotion of Horticultural
Industry.
-Sloppy, undulated land can be brought under
cultivation by growing rain fed horticultural crops.
-The average production of
the Horticultural crops is more than the agronomic crops and therefore, the net
returns are also more.
-Comparative Advantage
The climate in hills and mountains differ from
the terrain. During summer, temperature in the hills and mountains is low.
Normal season vegetables in hills considered as off-season in terrain and
neighboring countries. Off-season vegetables fetch higher price in the market
as well. Because of diverse agro-ecological situations in the hills and
mountains, different fruits, spices, flowers have niche value as well as it has
comparative advantages like production season of citrus is differed from India
and Bangladesh, export quality of large cardamom is produced in the eastern
hills, niche type of orchids and highland specialty coffee has high demand in
the international market, orthodox tea is highly appreciated in the international
arena. As per Statistical Information of Nepalese Agriculture 2014/2015,
Nepal’s significant horticulture production is in increasing trend despite its
comparatively lower productivity. Both in case of fruits & vegetables,
productivity of Nepal (8.96 & 13.41 ton per hectare respectively) are lower
than the productivity of China (11.6 and 23.4 ton per hectare), India (12.3 and
17.3 ton per hectare) and world average (11.4 and 19.6 ton per hectare). During
2013-14, in case of spices basically in large cardamom, Nepal’s productivity
(6.86 ton per hectare) was better than the China and India (3.3 and 2.0 ton per
hectare respectively). Though the comparison of Nepal’s horticulture
productivity with that of China, the leading producer of fruits &
vegetables, and India does not give identical results but there is a
potentiality in case of large cardamom, tea and coffee. In case of large
cardamom production Nepal’s yield is the best amongst the major producers.
-Employment Opportunity
The drain of manpower to
the overseas is due to unemployment problems in the country. At present
situation more than 3,000,000 youths have been deployed in the overseas in
search of job. Production, processing and marketing of horticultural crops
create employment opportunity to the rural and urban youths. Commercialization
of horticulture crops and their value addition generate income to the people.
-National and International Market
-National and International Market
Nepal has been under the
process of rapid urbanization. It is assumed that by 2030 about 50% of the
population will live in the town and cities. This will create a high demand for
agricultural commodities in the markets. At present context the import of
fruits, vegetables and other high value commodities is increasing every year.
Current Import scenario of horticultural crops in values are as such, apple of
NRs 1.9 b, Banana of NRs 292 m, Citrus of 129 m, fresh vegetables of NRs 844 m,
flowers of NRs 95 m. In some commodities where import is increasing it can be
substituted by producing such commodities within the country such as; mango,
banana, onion, potato, chili and other vegetables. On the other hand, by
utilizing diverse agro-ecology of hills and mountains various high value
commodities can be produced in niche areas and export to other nations. Nepal
does have potential scope to export horticultural crops like mandarin, sweet
orange, lime and areca nut in fruits; cabbage, peas and tomatoes as off-season
vegetables; large cardamom and ginger in spices; tea and coffee in plantation
crops; cut flower, orchid, rose and carnation in flower sub-sector.
-Government Policies and Plans
Government of Nepal has
always prioritized for horticulture development in periodic plans. In the 20 year
Agriculture Perspective Plan (APP, 1994/95-2014/15), government outlined the
broad policy to transform subsistence agriculture into commercial one and
priorities given to the horticultural crops such as apple in mountain; citrus,
coffee, tea and vegetable seeds in mid-hill and mango, banana and fresh
vegetables in terrain. The policies emphasize to facilitate market oriented
high value commodities, contribute internal and export markets through
agro-based industries and poverty reduction through commercialization of
horticulture. Likewise, government formulated Nepal Trade Integration Strategy
(NTIS) in 2010, which identified seven agro-food i.e., ginger, tea, large
cardamom, lentil, honey, noodles and 188 Horticulture Development in Nepal:
Prospects, Challenges and Strategies medicinal herbs for export potentialities,
out of which three are horticulture commodities. The government has endorsed
Agriculture Development Strategy (ADS) in 2015 with the vision of a
competitive, sustainable inclusive agriculture sector that contribute to
economic growth, improved livelihood, and food and nutrition security. It will
accelerate agriculture sector growth through four strategic components including
improved governance, productivity, commercialization and competitiveness.
Priority is given to inclusiveness (both social and geographical),
sustainability (both natural resources and economical) and connectivity to
market infrastructures (agricultural roads, collection centers, packing houses,
market centers etc.), information infrastructures and ICT, and power infrastructure.
- Identified Horticultural Crops
The climate of terrain
(lower belt), mid-hills and high hills are suitable for the production of many
kinds of fruits and high value horticulture commodities such as mango, banana,
papaya, areca nut, tea, cut flowers, vegetables and potatoes in terrain;
mandarin, sweet orange, lime, pomegranate, kiwi, coffee, tea, large cardamom,
ginger, cut-flowers, vegetables and potatoes in mid-hills and apple, walnut,
apricot, peach, pear, plum, vegetables and potatoes in high-hills.
Limitations/Problems in Horticulture
productions/marketing
1. High initial investment :-
a) The initial investment on new orchard is
very high e. g. cost of land, layout, digging of pit, cost of plants and
planting, cost of fertilizers, F.Y.M, insecticides, pesticides etc.
b) In plants requiring special system of
pruning and training e. g. in Kiwi, Grapes etc. the initial cost further
increases because of investment on erecting special training structures.
Therefore, every person cannot afford to take up fruit production as an
enterprise.
2. Non-availability of quality planting material :-
Adequate availability of
quality plants is essential for orchard establishment. Lack of knowledge in
procuring quality plants can result in disastrous results. No proper
legislation is enforced to curb sale of inferior plants through footpath
sellers or by private nurseries resulting in the dissemination of the inferior
plants to growers in most of the cases. Citrus plants are very often infected
with citrus canker, leaf minor, similarly mango plants with malformation, peach
with leaf curl and nematodes etc.
3. Long juvenile period :-
Most of the fruit crops
have a long juvenile period and thus bear their first crop after a good many
years e.g. stone fruits take 4 to 5 years, pecan nuts 10 to 12 years etc. Orchardist,
hence, has to bear the cost of maintaining the plants through some other
sources for such number of years. Though practice of planting fillers is being
adopted for substantiating the income till the main crop comes into bearing.
4. Perishable nature :-
Horticulture plants have
high water content, hence, are of perishable nature. The technologies for
increasing the shelf life are lacking and more over the facilities for
providing the cold store are quite scarce in number. This causes the over
flooding of the fruits in market during the peak-harvesting season, resulting
in the crash in the prices of the commodity.
5. Lack of
processing unit :-
Very limited scale processing industries are
available in our country. The fruits growing in abundance e.g. mango, banana,
citrus, pineapple etc. could otherwise give higher returns if processed in
different products and exported.
6. Lack of proper storage and transportation
facilities :-
This results in the loss
of 15% in most of the fruit crops. Our country still lacks the fleet of
refrigerated roadway carriages, which is the most suitable and smooth way of
transportation of fruits.
7. Faulty marketing system :-
Most of the profits (upto 65%) is taken away
by middlemen the fruit mandis where the grower is basically compelled to sell
the fruit. From the grower the fruit passes through the hands of big contractor
to small contractor, commission agent, whole saler, retailer before reaching
the consumer. Thus the grower gets a margin of the profits only.
8. Low purchasing power :
- Irrespective of the low
pricing of the fruit during the glut, it still remains out of reach of the
common man who constitute most of our country’s population.
Other Challenges/Constraints
in Nepal
Despite of greater scope and potentiality
there are various constraints for the production of horticulture crops commercially.
-Subsistence
Farming
Farming system in Nepal is
conventional and subsistence type. Each farmer grows most of the crops as per
need of his family. The scattered form of farming imposed a greater constraint
in marketing of horticultural crops. From sustainable point of view growing all
crops is important. For commercial production it should be specialized to
particular crop. The low volume of products and absence of consolidated
marketing system create the great setback for export.
-Lack of Systematic Marketing System
In Nepal marketing system is a major problem.
Farmers are encouraged to grow vegetables, fruits and high value crops without
sustainable market and marketing system. Productions without market create
embarrassing situations to the growers and discourage production. Producers
face problems due to lack of transportation facilities such as marketing of
apple from high hill regions and citrus fruits in the mid-hill regions.
-Lack of
Physical Infra-structure
In remote areas inaccessibility to the road is
the major problem to produce horticultural commodities. The production of most
of the fruits is seasonal in nature. The production areas are in remote and the
bulk of production is confined to a particular limited time. Bulk production of
seasonal crops in a limited period leads to fetch poor market price due to lack
of proper storage and processing units. Lack of cleaning, grading, sorting,
fumigation, waxing and other packing house operations decrease export quality
of the horticultural products. In many instances, inferior qualities are
processed to different product such as juice, jam jellies and beverages. In
some crops production without processing is useless such as coffee, tea etc.
Because of growing transaction the size of existing market has squeezed and is
not enough.
-Human Resource Management
In Nepal the well trained manpower are not
enough. There is lack of subject matter specialists (SMS) in spice crops, tea,
and coffee sub-sector. In the field of postharvest handling and processing of
horticultural crops skilled manpower is still lacking. Overseas job creates
shortage of youth labor in the country as well. Due to foreign job migration of
people from rural areas to urban areas is in increasing trend.
-Low Priority in Investment
Poor economic status of Nepalese people cannot
support big projects of commercial production and processing of horticultural
crops. Inadequate investment of government in horticulture sector is also a
great challenge. Foreign investor or donors have less priority in fruit
sub-sector for investments.
-Strategies
1.The government of Nepal
has made efforts to promote the horticulture sector in short as well as in long
term plans, yet some deficiencies are experienced which are to be addressed in
future.
2.Emphasis should be given to niche fruits,
plantation crops, flowers and spice crops production in larger areas.
3.Research institutes should be strengthened
to develop the hybrid varieties of horticultural crops especially vegetables.
4.Big production blocks
should be created and strengthened in fruit sub-sector.
5.he plantation areas of
tea and coffee should be expanded because demand of coffee (green beans) and
green tea in international market is high.
6.Processing units should
be established for the promotion of ginger, areca nut and large cardamom.
7. Big storage house
facilities should be provided for year round supply and price stabilization.
8. Capacity enhancement
for the horticulturists and frontline extension workers need to be
strengthened.
9. Foreign aid/ investment
need to be mobilized through single door policy.
10. Implementation of crop
insurance policy should be assured to commercial farmers.
11. Sanitary and
phyto-sanitary (SPS) measures should be followed strictly for exportable
commodities