Lecture 1

IMPORTANCE
AND EXPORT POTENTIAL OF
VEGETABLE CROPS
 Introduction

• Vegetables play an important role in the balanced diet by

providing not only energy but also supplying vital
protective nutrients like minerals and vitamins.
• Vegetable crops give higher yield per unit area as
compared to other crops. Vegetables produce 4-5 times
more food per unit area when compared to cereals.
• Most vegetables crops are of short duration and fit well
into many remunerative crop rotation and cropping
patterns like intercropping, multiple cropping and
companion cropping.
• According to Indian Council of Medical
Research (ICMR), intake of 300g of vegetables
every day to make our diet balanced along with
other diets. This includes 125 g leafy vegetables,
75 g other vegetables and 100 g root and tuber
vegetables.
• The recommendation for average women is more
or less same with exception in roots and tubers
which should be at least 75g per day.
• The average intake of vegetables of the country is
about 230 g/head/day.
• Low availability per capita per day is due to high
population and heavy post harvest losses (approx
35%).
• The importance of vegetables is further increased
as majority of the Indian population is vegetarian.
 Basic Statistic (NHB, 2010)

• India: 2nd largest producer of vegetables in the world after

China
• Area under vegetables 7.985 million ha
• Total production 133.73 million tonnes
• Productivity per ha 16.7 t/ha
• Top five states (area wise) WB, UP, Bihar, Orrisa,
Maharashtra.
• Highest productivity : Tamilnadu (28.92 t/ha)
• India’s share in world production: 14%.
• According to an estimate, by the end of 2030, nearly 151-193
million tones of vegetables are to be produced to meet the
requirement.
 Area and Production of major vegetables in
India (2009-10)
Crop AREA (000 ha) Production
(000 MT)
Cabbage 301 6357

Cauliflower 315 5989

Peas 349 3311

Onion 756 12167

Potato 1863 35889

 Export Potential of Vegetables

• India is the fruit and vegetable basket of the world.

• India has a unique position in production among
other countries as variety of vegetables crops.
• Vegetables are becoming increasingly important as
cash crop for urban and export markets.
• Over 90 % of India's exports in fresh products to west
Asia and East European markets.
• India is the 19th largest exporter in world for edible
vegetables.
• Export as per APEDA 2007-08 (Agricultural and
Processed Food Products Export Development
Authority) of different vegetable based commodities
is as under:
• Fresh produce: onion, okra, pea, cole crops,
cucurbits, bean (Rs1, 525 crores).
• Vegetable seed: 142 crores.
• Processed vegetables: Tomato, pea (140 crores).
• Dehydrated: Ginger, garlic, turmeric, pea.
• Major products include fresh Onion, Walnut,
fresh Mangoes and other fresh fruits and
vegetables.
• Among vegetables Onion occupies first
position in total export value of vegetables.
Potatoes and green leafy vegetables like
lettuce and celery have good export
potential.
1. Fresh Onions:
• The gulf countries are the main importers
of the onion bulbs and Pakistan, China are
India's main competitors in the global
market.
• India's export of fresh Onion was Rs
1035.78 crores in 2007-08.
• Bangladesh, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, UAE,
Pakistan and Nepal are the major market of
Indian onion.
2. Others fresh vegetables:
• India's export of other vegetables are
Potatoes, Onion, Tomato, Cauliflower,
Cabbage, Bean, Egg Plants, Cucumber and
Gherkin, Frozen Peas, Garlic and Okra was
Rs 489.49 crores (2007-08).
• The major importing countries of Indian
vegetable are UAE, Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
Nepal and Bangladesh.
3. Dried and Preserved Vegetables:
• India is the major producer of dried and
preserved vegetables like-:
 Preserved Onion, Cucumber & Gherkins,
provisionally preserved.
 Mushroom, Green pepper in Brine.
 Dried Truffles, Asparagus Dried, Dehydrated
Garlic powder.
 Dehydrated Garlic flakes, Garlic dried,
Potatoes Dried, Gram, Grams Dal, Onion
prepared/preserved etc.
• India's export of dried and preserved
vegetables was Rs 426.94 Crores in 2007-
2008.
• The major importers are Russia, France, USA,
Germany and Spain.
4. Fruits and vegetable Seeds:
• The major seeds, which are grown in India are
Beet seeds, Pea seeds, Pomegranate seeds,
Radish seeds, Tamarind seeds and other seeds.
• India's total export of fruit & vegetable seeds
products was Rs 142.12 crores in 2007-08.
• The majors importing countries are Pakistan,
Bangladesh, USA, Japan & Netherlands.
5. Other processed Fruits & Vegetables:
• The processed fruit and vegetable industry
has tremendous export growth potential.
• India’s export of other processed fruit and
vegetables was Rs. 712.20 crores in 2007-
2008.
• Major destinations of export are USA,
Netherland, UK, UAE and Saudi Arabia.
 Temperate / Cool season Vegetables
• Vegetables differ in their temperature
requirements for proper growth and
development.
• In general summer vegetables require a
little higher temperature than winter
vegetables for optimum growth.
• Edible portion in winter vegetables is
mostly a root, stem, leaf or immature
flower parts.
• In summer vegetables, the edible portion is mostly
botanical fruit.
• Exceptions are peas and broad beans among winter
vegetables and sweet potato and New Zealand
Spinach among summer vegetables.

According to thermo classification

• Vegetables are grouped together according to their
average monthly temperature requirements which help
in separation of cool and warm season crops.
 Cool season vegetables grow well when the
monthly mean temperature does not exceed
21°C, cool season vegetables thrive best in:
i. Average monthly temperature-15-17 °C
Cole crops, Root crops, beet, spinach, pea,
potato, celery, lettuce and parsley.
ii. Average monthly temperature 12-22°C.
Onion, garlic, leek, shallot and chicory.
 These vegetables make optimum growth under
cool and moderate temperatures and seed
germination also occur at low temperature.
 In comparison to warm season vegetable
crops, cool season vegetable are shallow
rooted (30-60cm) and their plant frame is
also smaller. On the basis of hardiness, cool
season vegetable crops are of two types.

I. Hardy Vegetables

i. Semi-hardy vegetables
I. Hardy Vegetables :

They can withstand frost injury e.g. Asparagus,

broccoli, Brussels’ sprout, cabbage, garlic, Onion,
leak, parsley, pea, radish, spinach.

ii. Semi-hardy vegetables:

Generally there are not injured by light frost e.g. beet,
carrot, cauliflower, celery, lettuce, palak, potato,
Chinese cabbage, endive, globe artichoke,Turnip etc.
 Importance of Cool Season Vegetables in
Nutrition and National Economy
• Cool season vegetables are a major source of
dietary fibres , minerals and vitamins.
• Some of these vegetables also contribute protein,
fat and carbohydrate.
• Most of the leafy vegetables and root crops
are rich in minerals.
• Some of the leafy vegetables are also rich in
micro-elements such as copper, manganese and
zinc.
• Some of the vegetables are rich in vitamin A,
vitamin C, Thiamine, Riboflavin, Niacin,
Pantothenic acid and folic acid.
• Vitamin A is produced in our body from carotene
which is present in higher amounts in leafy
vegetables, carrot, turnip green, knol-khol leaves
etc.
• Vitamin B is present in appreciable amount in pea,
garlic etc.
• Vitamin C rich vegetables are cauliflower,
cabbage, knol-khol, turnip etc. Among cole crops.
Broccoli is best in nutritional quality.
• Leafy vegetables are rich in:
Carotene (provitamin A),
Riboflavin (vitamin B2) and
Minerals.
• It has been estimated that l00 g of leafy
vegetables can provide:
60-140mg of ascorbic acid (vitamin c)
l00 ug folic acid.
200-400mg of calcium.
4-7 mg iron
• Consumption of l00g of leafy vegetables a day
can supply 15% or more of the total protein
intake.
• Only 30g of leaves will be sufficient to meet
the requirements of vitamin A and C
• Potato, Parsley and other root vegetables are
good sources of starch.
• Potatoes contain about 1.6 % proteins.
• Protein present in potatoes are in highly
digestible form.
• Peas and beans are also good source of protein
containing 16-25% protein on dry weight basis.
 Leafy vegetables and root crops provide the dietary
fibre essential for bowel movement and possibility for
prevention of diseases such as Appendicitis, coliary
cancer, diabetes, diverticulosis, gall stones and obesity.
 Dietary fibres or non starch polysaccharides are the

complex polysaccharide such as cellulose,

hemicelluloses, lignin, gums, pectins and mucins.
 Dietary fibres possess ability to imbibe water and swell
thus contributing bulk to the diet.
• Foods containing dietary fibre require chewing
hence it limits food intake and acts as natural
appetite suppressant.
• Vegetables also contain a number of flavour
compounds such as:
Sugar, amino acids, and organic acids, volatiles
such as aromatic hydrocarbons, aldehydes, acetals,
ketones, alcohol, esters and sulphur compounds.
• Antioxidants and bioflavonoides and several other
compounds present in these crops protect human
body from various ailments e.g.
• Quercetin, a bioflavonoides present in onion and
garlic provide protection against cancer and heart
diseases.
• Compounds like allicin, allistalin, garlicin, diallyl
disulphide (garlic) and alkyl disulphide (onion)
are sulphur containing compounds which reduces
chances of heart attack and strokes.
• Indoles and isothiocyanates prevent cancers of
colon, rectum and breast and are present in cole
crops.
• Diphenylamine found in onion is effective
against diabetes.
• Leguminous vegetables reduce blood
cholesterol thus prevents heart attack.
• Celery contains 3-n butyl aldehyde, which
is effective against hypertension.
 Vegetables play an important role in the balanced diet by
providing not only energy but also supplying vital
protective nutrients like minerals and vitamins.
 According to recommendation given by

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), an

average man with vegetarian or non-vegetarian food
habit should consume:
125g of green leafy vegetables.
l00g of roots and tubers and
75g other vegetables.
• The recommendation for average women is more or less
same with exception in roots and tubers which should be
consumed @ 75g per day.
• But the availability of vegetables in India is about 150gm per
capita/day which is very low compared to the recommended
dose.
• This is due to high population presence and heavy post
harvest losses (approx 35%).
• The importance of vegetable is further increased as most of
the Indian population is vegetarian.
 
 India is the world's second largest producer of
vegetables next only to China.
 Vegetable crops in India occupy only 3.8% of the
total cultivated land producing 116.03 million
tonnes of vegetables annually from an area of 7.49
m ha.
 India share 12% of world production of vegetables
with a productivity of 15.49mt/ha which is quite
low as compared to many countries.
• By the end of 2030, according to an
estimate, we will need 151-193 million
tonnes of vegetables to meet our
requirement. Therefore it is necessary that
production of vegetables including root and
tuber crops is increased at a much faster
rate.
 Vegetable crops give higher yield per unit area as
compared to other crops.
 Vegetables produce 4-5times more food per unit area when
compared to cereals.
 Vegetables play an important role in reducing levels of
malnutrition and under nutrition.
 But presently, yield per unit area of most of the vegetables
in India is very low e.g., cabbage.
 Indian productivity is 21.2mt/ha far less than the world
best in Korea Republic i.e. 63mt/ha.
 There is lot of scope for increasing yield in most of the
vegetables by growing high yielding varieties/hybrids and
adopting improved production technology.

 This will ensure a balanced diet to the common man and a

higher income to the farmers.

 Generate additional farm employment.

 Cultivation of vegetable crops being more labour

intensive than cereal crops will be helpful for seasonally
under-employed farm workers in increasing their income.
 Most vegetables crops are of short duration
and they fit into many remunerative crop
rotation and cropping patterns like
intercropping, multiple cropping and
companion cropping.
 Vegetable growing enables maximum
utilization of land.
 Vegetable crops are commercial crops;

• Supporting market gardening.

• Truckle gardening or
• Commercial gardening.
• Vegetable industry supports many other
industries like processing, seed industry,
fertilizer, pesticide, weedicides and farm
machinery industry.
• Vegetables are becoming increasingly
important as cash crop for urban and export
markets.
• Hence play an important role in national
economy as we can earn foreign exchange by
exporting fresh and processed vegetables
which reduced trade deficit, besides creating
more direct and indirect employment.
• Vegetable consumption, therefore to be
considered an important economic factor in a
society because it improves health as well as
working capacity.
• Vegetables are generally low in energy and
dry matter content but immensely important
as source of protective nutrients especially
vitamins and minerals.
 Problems of Vegetable Production

• Non-availability of quality seeds.

• Paucity of authentic literature for growers, traders
and consumers.
• Marketing problem.
• Pest problems.
• Cultural practices.
• Irrigation facilities.
• Consumption pattern: Below poverty line no money
to purchase even cereals.
 Steps to Success

 Good equity
 Marketing
 Refrigerated transport
 Pre-cool and cold storage
 Grading and packing
 Integrated pest and disease control
 Production in controlled conditions
 Right location for right products
 Quality is the key to success
Thanks…