HORTICULTURE IN NORTH EAST REGION

The states in the North-Eastern region of India offer immense scope for exploiting the export Potential of the horticultural crops. The North-East states comprising of eight states covers an area of 262180 km2 which is nearly 8% of the total geographical area of the country. The region is one of the richest reservoir of genetic variability with 136 horticultural species. The diverse agro-climatic conditions, varied soil type and abundance of rainfall offer immense scope for cultivation of different types of horticultural crops.

The fruits grown in this region ranges from tropical to sub-tropical fruits like banana, papaya, pine-apple, passion fruit, citrus to temperate fruits like apple, peach, plum. The region has rich diversity of different vegetable crops and both indigenous tropical and temperate vegetable are grown to considerable extent. Among the flowering plants, special mention maybe made about the orchids, about 600 species are reported in this region. In Mizoram and Meghalaya, these centres act as an interface between the private buyers of flowers and the farmers. The cultivation of anthurium was taken up by farmers in Mizoram and in East Garo Hills of Meghalaya and the range of operation performed by the centres is enormous. Organic spices like ginger (cv. Nadia) and turmeric (cv. Lakadong) have increased production in many folds and about 60-70% of the produce are being exported outside the region and neighbouring countries while plantation crops like tea have considerable impact on the economy of the Assam region in particular. The North East region accounts for 11.36 lakh ha total area with the total production of 11.92 million MT.

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