The south western district of Andhra Pradesh, Anantapur recently held its first Horticulture Conclave showcasing the vast potential the region holds in becoming a major hub for horticulture produce not just in Andhra Pradesh but across India.

Addressing the conclave Andhra Pradesh’s finance minister, Mr Payyavula Keshav said that the time is ripe to promote brand Anantha as Horticulture growth engine of the country and assured all policy support to make Anantapur District the country’s Horticulture Hub, with 25% of the State’s GVA by 2027.

He informed the gathering of investors and agriculturists that the Chief Minister of AP Mr Nara Chandrababu Naidu is keen to develop Rayalaseema and Anantapur as Horticulture hub. Mr Keshav added that the Government will take up the widening of the Handri-Neeva Canal immediately during the current agriculture season so that all the 12 motors can be operated and more cultivable lands can be given irrigation water.

He promised the farmers to complete the project within the next 12 months. The finance minister informed that the district had exported more than 1 lakh tonnes of banana recently to Iran through Container Corporation of India train rakes and a similar marketing push will be given for five other horticulture products also.

The need of the hour was providing end-to-end solutions for horticulture produce from nursery to marketing stage, which will make Anantapur (the Fruit Bowl of the State) contribute 25% to State GVA (Gross Value Addition) as part of the Swarna Andhra 2047, said the Finance Minister.

Helping companies invest in logistics, cold chain and farmers’ support systems will give an impetus to this vision, he remarked.

Boosting Banana Exports

AP’s Special Chief Secretary of Agriculture and Horticulture Mr B. Rajasekhar in his address pointed out that the per hectare banana yield was 65 MT in Anantapur, which was very close to 70.2 MT in Turkey, the world’s best.

Acknowledging certain issues in the sector he said that despite many challenges in achieving the dream of making Anantapur as a fruitful bowl of India the state government was determined to overcome all of them. Maintaining the supply chain, improving the product quality and packaging along with developing value-addition were the immediate necessities for the Horticulture sector to reach its desired target. The post-harvest losses were 15% to 20%, which needs to be brought down to 9%, he added.

The Union Government and State Government were giving a push to 11 priority crops in 24 clusters, out of them six – banana, Dry Chilli, Sweet Orange, Tomatoes, Mango and Dragon Fruit were in Anantapur, said Mr. Rajasekhar.

Giving the keynote address, Anantapur’s District Collector Dr Vinod Kumar, V IAS said that the aim was to make Anantha Horticulture produce a Global Brand.

In this regard the district collector signed a series of MoUs with seven companies. As per the collector these MoUs will look into various aspects of improving productivity of identified horticulture crops.

‘Our aim is to increase an additional 25000 hectares of horticulture cultivated area as part of Swarna Andhra and Swarna Anantha and production from 25 lakh MT to 29 Lakh MT.

Support will be provided in the pre-harvest, production and post-harvest stages to convert the Horticulture Hub to the Horticulture Engine of GVA growth’ said Dr Vinod.