NEW DELHI: India’s annual increase in fruit and vegetable production has slowed over the last decade compared to previous decades, largely due to the country’s ongoing cereal-centric agricultural policies, according to data from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The findings indicate that India has strayed from its policy of promoting agricultural diversification towards high-value crops, such as fruits and vegetables, and instead chosen to prioritise cereal production.
These findings were made in a research paper, ‘Beyond the Green Revolution: Unravelling New Dynamics of India’s Agri-food System Transformation’ and published in the Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences. The authors—ICAR director general M L Jat, P S Birthal and S J Balaji—criticised the current procurement system for being unsustainable in the long term.
The authors have called for a change in the grain procurement system that favours rice and wheat and sought promotion of a market-linked innovative system. The current system, they say, creates pressure on natural resources and hinders crop diversification.
The ICAR data, encapsulated in the paper, shows that between 2015 and 2025, the annual increase in fruit and vegetable production was pegged at 7.6 million tonnes, which is slightly lower than the annual production increase of 7.7 million tonnes from 1996 to 2014. The earlier period saw annual production levels nearly three times higher than those between 1967 and 1995.
The paper categorises the annual production rise into three distinct phases: technology-driven cereal intensification (1967–95), demand-led diversification (1996–2014), and sustainability-led diversification (2015–25).
In the fruit category, the annual growth increased from 0.8 million tonnes to 2.7 million tonnes and has since decreased to 2.6 million tonnes across the three phases. Similarly, in the vegetable category, the annual increase in production grew from 1.6 million tonnes to five million tonnes and has since stabilised at this figure. During the same time frame, the annual production of food grain increased from 4.1 million tonnes to 3.9 million tonnes and then surged to 8.4 million tonnes.
Experts note that between 1996 and 2014, India began shifting its focus from cereals to broader commodities, including horticultural crops, leading to a slight reduction in cereal production, while horticultural production experienced substantial growth. The Indian government initiated several programs to support fruit and vegetable growers. “A decade of electoral politics has compelled state and Central governments to incentivise farmers to grow wheat and rice, leaving horticultural farmers at the mercy of market fluctuations and lacking cold chain facilities,” stated a senior official, who wished to remain anonymous.
Jat, however, says that maintaining the same level of production in horticulture should be considered an achievement, as horticulture crops have inherent limitations. “We need to move towards more market-led, value-chain oriented agriculture growth, instead of current procurement led support,” he said. Many experts point out that India lacks the adequate network of cold-chain facilities which is necessary for storing fruits and vegetables at the scale at which the country wants to produce it. The unfortunate visuals of farmers discarding their perishable produce on the roads due to constant crash in prices often go viral on social media.
Economists involved in the analysis indicated that government programs—such as “Per Drop, More Crops”, the provision of better quality seeds and advancements in technology—have contributed to an increase in cereal production.
This increase in production has also spurred agricultural growth, which was nearly 3% in the first two phases and accelerated to about 4.5%
