ENVIS Centre, Ministry of Environment & Forest, Govt. of India

Printed Date: Sunday, March 16, 2025

Horticulture

Himachal Pradesh has been endowed with a wide range of agro climatic conditions due to which a large number of horticulture commodities like fruit crops (from temperate to sub tropical), flowers, vegetables, mushrooms, hops, tea, medicinal & aromatic plants etc. are successfully grown here. Amongst the fruit crops, perhaps all kind of fruits grown in the country, except those which are grown in the warm humid coastal regions, can be produced in the State. Depending upon the agroclimatic conditions and the suitability of a particular area for the growing of specific fruit crops in that area, the State is broadly divided into four agroclimatic zones as described in the table below

Horticulture Zones in Himachal Pradesh

S. No	ZONE DESCRIPTION	ELEVATION RANGE (meters amsl)	RAINFALL (cms)	SUITABLE FRUIT CROPS
1.	Low Hill and Valley areas near the plains	365-914	60 - 100	Mango, Litchi, Guava, Loquat, Citrus Fig, Ber, Papaya, Early varieties of Grapes, Jack Fruit, Banana, Low chilling varieties of Peach, Plum and Pear, Strawberry.
2.	Mid Hills (Sub Temperate)	915-1523	90 - 100	Stone Fruits (Peach, Plum, Apricot, Almond), Persimmon, Pear, Pomegranate, Pecan nut, Walnut, Kiwi Fruit, Strawberry.
3.	High Hills and Valleys in the interiors (Temperate)	1524-2742	90 - 100	Apple, Pear (Soft), Cherry, Almond, Walnut, Chestnut, Hazel- nut, Strawberry.
4.	Cold and Dry Zone (Dry Temperate)	1524-3656	24 - 40	Apples, Prunes, Drying type of Apricot, Almond, Chilgoza, Pistachio nut, Walnut, Hazel-nut, Grapes and Hops.

In addition to fruits, vegetable and flower cultivation is undertaken for off season supplies to the plains, mushroom cultivation is being taken up even by the landless for the augmentation of their income. Beekeeping is a necessary activity adjunct to the horticulture industry, which besides providing pollinating agents for improvement of fruit set and productivity, also results in the production of economic apiculture products like honey and bee wax. The horticulture industry therefore is playing a great role in the amelioration of the rural economy of the State with respect to:

a) generation of sources for cash income to the rural people,

b) generation of employment opportunities in the pre and post harvest sectors of the horticulture industry,

c) provision of nutritive foods in the form of fruits, vegetables, nuts, mushrooms, honey, etc.,

d) satisfaction of the aesthetic needs of the people, and

e) development of a sustainable system of permanent agriculture in the hilly areas.

In Himachal Pradesh, diversification from cereal-based cropping system to vegetables is gaining momentum because of the tourism industry. More area is being put under cultivation of exotic vegetables on account of suitable temperate climate which has proven to be a remunerative venture. At present, the area under vegetable farming in the state is 72,000 hectares and production is 14 lakh tones, with annual growth rate of 6.5% in area and 7.4% in production. Vegetable productivity of Himachal Pradesh is 19.5 tonnes per hectare which is higher than the national productivity of 17.5 tonnes per hectare. Vegetables are generating more revenue than fruits by contributing more than Rs 3,000 crore, leaving behind fruits, which contribute Rs 2,200 crore annually.

Horticulture Development in Himachal Pradesh at a Glance

Status of Horticulture:

1	Total area under Horticulture (2014-15)	224352 Hectare
	-Apple	109553
	-Other Temperate Fruits	27900
	-Nuts & Dry Fruits	10621
	-Citrus Fruits	23704
	-Other Sub-Tropical Fruits	52574
2	Total area under Horticulture as percentage	37.58 % of total cultivable area
3	Total Fruit Production (2014-15)	751938M.T.
	-Apple	625199M.T.
	-Other Temperate Fruits	43611M.T.
	-Nuts & Dry Fruits	2414M.T.
	-Citrus	22165M.T.
	-Mango	47612M.T
	-Other Sub-Tropical Fruits	10937M.T.
4	Numbers of farmers engaged in Horticulture (1989-90)	4,64,254
	-Out of which :
	-General Category	3,17,778
	-Scheduled Castes	1,17,919
	-Scheduled Tribes	22,657
	-Others	5,900
5	Gross value of the Fruit Produce (Rs.)-2014-2015	3582.91Crore
6	Per capita Income from Fruit Produce (Rs.)-2014-2015	5225
7	Employment Generation in the Fruit Production activities	900 Lakh Mandays
8	Total Average Number of Apple Boxes exported from the state every year	1.50 Crores
9	Total number of trucks required for the haulage of Fruit	30,000 to 35,000
10	Area under floriculture (2014-15)	790.98 Hectare
11	Total Production of Mushroom (2014-15)	8035.22 M.T
12	Total Production of Honey (2014-15)	1632.77 M.T
13	Total production of Hops (Dry) ( 2014-15)	0.0074 M.T

Horticulture Infrastructure in the State:

1	Total number of employees in the state Department of Horticulture ( Sanctioned)	2421
2	Numbers of District office	15 (12 + 3 )
3	Numbers of Development Block	77
4	Horticulture Units
	(1) Progeny-cum-Demonstration orchards & Nurseries	94
	(2) Private Registered Nurseries (as on 31-03-2008)	677
	(3) Floriculture Nurseries	7
	(4) Walnut Development Stations	1
	(5) Olive Development Stations	3
	(6) Fruit Plant Nutrition Laboratories	3
	(7) Pesticides Sales Centers	338
	(8) Bee Keeping Stations	32
	(9) Fruit Canning Units (Departmental)	8
	10) Mushroom Compost Production Units	2
	(11) Hops Drying Units	6
	12)Hops Pellet Manufacturing Units	1
	(13) Honey Grading Laboratories	2
5	Post Harvest Management Infrastructure
	(1) Packing and Grading Houses	11
	(2) Cold Storages
	-In Production Areas	5 (each of 1000 MT Capacity)
	-At Parwanoo	1 (3000MT)
	-Terminal Markets	3 (Total 8250 MT Capacity)
	(3) Transit Ware Houses	3
	(4) Total Processing Capacity	83160 M.T
	Out Of Which
	HPMC	29000 M.T
	Departmental	1300 M.T
	Coop. Sector/ Private/ Joint Sector	52860 M.T

GROSS VALUE OF HORTICULTURE PRODUCE

S. No	Commodity	Production ( In M.T )2014-15	Value Rs. (In Crores) 20014-15
1	Fruits	751938	3582.91
2	Flowers	27204 M.T & 1868.05 Lakh Nos.	90.18
3	Honey	1632.77	32.66
4	Mushroom	8035.22	64.28
5	Hops	0.0074	0.0002
Total			3770.0302

Area and production of Fruit:

S. No

CROP

Area Hectare

2014-15

Production M.T.

2014-15

Apple

109553

625199

Plum

8582

10827

Peach

5113

4248

Apricot

3660

4704

Pear

7106

20220

Cherry

450

202

Kiwi

121

263

Pomegranate

2332

1700

Olive

Persimmon

416

598

Strawberry

559

G. Almond

199

Almond

5221

722

Walnut

4513

1568

Picannut

874

124

Hazelnut

Orange

8710

10960

Malta

1668

2101

K. Lime

10861

5652

Galgal

2412

3360

Other Citrus Fruit

Mango

41105

47612

Litchi

5231

3494

Guava

2193

2760

Aonla

2323

2050

Jackfruit

857

545

Papaya

212

1106

Loquat

Others

652

974

Total

224352

751938

Area under different Fruits:

(In Hectare)

Sr. No.	Crop	Year
Sr. No.	Crop	2004 -05	2005 -06	2006 -07	2007 -08	2008 -09	2009 -10	2010 -11	2011 -12	2012 -13	2013 -14
1	Apple	86202	88560	91804	94726	97438	99564	101485	103644	106440	107686
2	Plum	8335	8360	8396	8428	8420	8456	8477	8530	8546	8556
3	Peach	4966	5000	5134	5175	5170	5195	5182	5181	5159	5132
4	Apricot	2947	3034	3178	3230	3392	3444	3483	3556	3577	3600
5	Pear	7564	7596	7662	7561	7405	7382	7370	7333	7283	7220
6	Cherry	302	313	345	374	405	453	480	492	456	453
7	Kiwi	111	113	118	120	128	128	123	120	117	113
8	Pomegranate	585	636	759	936	1085	1263	1422	1709	1968	2196
9	Olive	54	54	54	53	51	51	48	48	46	37
10	Persimmon	332	358	371	397	407	418	420	421	402	403
11	Strawberry	27	57	57	55	55	57	58	54	55	54
12	Almond	5732	5766	5784	5701	5647	5610	5578	5543	5473	5412
13	Walnut	4729	4785	4832	4718	4672	4628	4619	4607	4557	4539
14	Picannut	627	646	698	747	764	786	812	876	860	855
15	Hazelnut	12	13	14	15	13	13	13	13	12	13
16	Orange	7906	8033	8178	8359	8405	8577	8621	8554	8609	8594
17	Malta	932	968	1013	1113	1186	1293	1368	1419	1538	1549
18	k.Lime	9188	9336	9528	9531	9628	9824	9982	10126	10354	10568
19	Galgal	2322	2338	2345	2316	2315	2303	2281	2244	2255	2346
20	Other Citrus	54	54	54	54	54	53	53	53	53	53
21	Mango	36215	37408	38370	37840	38444	38681	39194	39568	39828	40298
22	Litchi	3362	3539	3759	3900	4060	4272	4380	4572	4742	4972
23	Guava	2201	2215	2235	2218	2236	2228	2244	2237	2233	2196
24	Aonla	908	1120	1313	1475	1710	1901	1987	2069	2158	2243
25	Jackfruit	328	376	432	457	524	576	640	651	654	723
26	Papaya	216	228	233	230	230	223	213	216	215	212
27	Loquat	69	70	70	69	69	68	68	66	64	61
28	Others	677	692	709	704	716	707	694	672	649	622
	Total	186903	191668	197445	200502	204629	208154	211295	214574	218303	220706