⇒ Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar virtually launched the Horticulture Cluster Development Programme on 31 May 2021. The HCDP has been launched to ensure holistic growth of horticulture.
Implementation:
The central sector programme will be implemented by the National Horticulture Board (NHB) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
Aim:
The Horticulture Cluster Development Programme aims at growing and developing identified horticulture clusters to make them globally competitive.
Pilot Phase:
In a pilot phase, the Horticulture Cluster Development Programme will be implemented in 12 horticulture clusters covering 11 States/UTs out of the total 53 clusters selected for the programme.
The clusters of the pilot phase include:
- Shopian (J&K) and Kinnaur (HP) for Apple
- Lucknow (UP), Kutch (Gujarat) and Mahbubnagar (Telangana) for Mango
- Anantpur (AP) and Theni (TN) for Banana
- Nasik (Maharashtra) for Grapes
- Siphahijala (Tripura) for Pineapple
- Solapur (Maharashtra) and Chitradurga (Karnataka) for Pomegranate
- West Jaintia Hills (Meghalaya) for Turmeric
Benefit:
The programme will benefit about 10 lakh farmers and is expected to attract an investment of Rs 10,000 crore when implemented in all the 53 clusters.