National Horticulture Mission

National Horticulture Mission is a centrally sponsored scheme launched in 2005-06, to enhance horticulture production and improve nutritional security and income support to farm households and others through area-based regionally differentiated strategies.

The scheme is not available here:

• Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep
• 7 North East States and Sikkim
• Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand

Rest all states and UTs are covered. The North East States, HP, J&K and Uttarakhand are covered under the Technology Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture in the North Eastern States (TMNE).

The scheme is not available to coconut and medicinal plants,
rest all horticultural crops are covered. For Coconut, there is Coconut Development Board and for medicinal plants, there is National Medicinal Board along with National Mission on Medicinal Plants.

NHM is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in which Government of India contributes 85%, and 15% is met by the State Governments.

Structure of the National Horticulture Mission

Minister of agriculture is the chairman of this mission and Ministers of Commerce, Health, Finance, Food Processing Industries, Panchayati Raj, Science & Technology, Rural Development, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises are its members.

As shown in the above graphics, NHM has a complex structure starting from the General Council and Executive Committee at the National Level to District Mission Committee at the district level.

It has a technical support group in which the domain experts have been included at central to management of the Mission. Technical support to Mission at National and State Levels is provided by National Horticulture Board.

Covered Components

National Horticulture Mission is a flagship scheme and being so, it covers almost all sections of horticulture development from Nursery level to Marketing level. This is shown in the following graphics:

Please note that it works on “Cluster Basis’. This means that the designated authority at the district level would choose a cluster of minimum 100 hectares, seek necessary approval & sanction and utilize the money under the programme -with the aim of achieving the desired goals. These goals are achieved by deploying modern and hi-tech interventions and duly ensuring backward and forward linkages. A Cluster, as contemplated in the NHM, comprises area of not less than 100 hectares under a horticulture crop. The intervention is done in the following components.

Plantation Infrastructure and Development-Nurseries, Tissue Culture labs

The support is available for setting up a nursery for producing quality plant material. However, nursery should be minimum with 1 hectare in area. The mission does not support establish the new Tissue Culture (TC) units. However, assistance is provided for rehabilitation/ strengthening of existing TC Units subject to a maximum ceiling of Rs.8.00 lakhs in Public sector and Rs.4.00 lakhs for Private sector.

Establishment of New Gardens

The farmers can get assistance for 3 years for development of a new garden of a horticulture crop.

Rejuvenation of Old and Senile Orchards

NHM provides support for rejuvenating senile plantations @ 50% of the cost subject to a maximum ceiling of Rs.15, 000/- per ha limited to 2 ha per beneficiary.

Other Support Areas

• Integrated Pest Management/Integrated Nutrient Management
• Protected Cultivation
• Organic Farming
• Pollination Support through Bee keeping
• Creation of Water Sources
• Mechanization
• HRD ( such as at Krishi Vigyan Kendra)
• Post Harvest Management
• Marketing
• Primary Processing
• Contract Farming
• Mushroom Cultivation
• Precision Farming

The scheme documents further say that while selecting the cluster, preference should be given to those areas where natural resource base and water resources have been developed under other government schemes such a Watershed development programmes, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), etc.

The following graphics show the salient features of National Horticulture Mission

Role of Agencies in the National Horticulture Mission

• National Horticulture Board (NHB), Gurgaon: NHB at Gurgaon houses the national level Technology Support Group or TSG.
  
• Directorate of Cashew and Cocoa Development (DCCD), Kochi: Responsible for plantation crops, other than coconut and areca nut.
  
• Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development (DASD), Calicut: Responsible for areca nut, spices,
  and aromatic plants.
  
• National Committee on Plasticulture Applications in Horticulture (NCPAH), New Delhi: Responsible for precision farming and hitech horticulture through Precision Farming Development Centres (PFDCs).
  
• Coconut Development Board (CDB), Kochi: Coconut based intercropping of vegetables etc. ]
  
• Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), New Delhi : Development of AgriExport Zones (AEZ) for horticultural crops.
  
• Directorate of Marketing & Inspection (DMI), New Delhi: Providing market intelligence and monitoring of programmes relating to marketing of horticulture crops.
  
• Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MFPI), New Delhi: Processing of horticultural produce, out of their own budget provision. MFPI will ensure convergence of their schemes with NHM cluster.
  
• National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), New Delhi: Development of medicinal plants in coordination with NHM.
  
• National Horticulture Research & Development Foundation (NHRDF), Nasik: Vegetables and vegetable seeds.
  

Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States (HMNEH)

• This is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme being implemented in NE states, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.