Horticulture is shaping future of Indian agriculture through value, opportunity and resilience: Shri Bhagirath Choudhary, MoS for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, GoI
April 09, 2026
FICCI-Grant Thornton Report ‘Vision 2030: Focusing on high-value horticulture for Atmanirbhar Bharat’, released
NEW DELHI, 09 April 2026: Mr Bhagirath Choudhary, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt of India today said that horticulture has emerged as a major engine of agricultural transformation, contributing nearly one-third of agricultural gross value added (GVA) and many horticulture farmers have already experienced it as a transformative medium, while some are yet to grasp its full potential. “Today, horticulture is shaping the future of Indian agriculture through value, opportunity and resilience,” he added.
Addressing FICCI’s India Horticulture Summit 2026, Minister Choudhary stated that India's agricultural sector, demonstrating robust and strong growth, serves as the foundation for rural livelihoods and food security. With advancement in productivity, quality and increased market access, there has been an increase in farmers confidence and encouraged them to diversify away from low-yield crops. “The sector is now moving away from quantity-based expansion to value-based growth, with greater emphasis on fruits, vegetables, spices and plantation crops that offer better income potential,” he emphasized.
Shri Choudhary further added that government stands ready to support and facilitate all efforts that drive the next phase of horticulture transformation, and work with farmers, FPOs, industry and other stakeholders to build strong, competitive and sustainable horticulture sector.
Dr Naveen Patle, Additional Commissioner (Horticulture), DA&FW, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Govt of India emphasized the need for leveraging quality production, strengthening processing capabilities, and enhancing import-export linkages to improve farmers’ incomes. The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare remains committed to incorporating these expert recommendations to build a robust, globally competitive horticulture ecosystem."
Mr Syed Junaid Altaf, Chairman, FICCI Task Force on Horticulture & Group ED, FIL Industries Pvt. Ltd said, “India should focus on self-sustainability in horticulture over the next 5-7 years and further aim to emerge as an export-driven nation in next 10 to 15 years.”
Ms Saloni Goel, Co-Chair, FICCI Task Force on Horticulture & Senior Director – ESG Value Creation & Commercialization, Coca-Cola India Pvt. Ltd said that horticulture is not just a sector but a powerful engine of growth, innovation and livelihood creation.
India has immense potential to scale high-value horticulture by focusing on value-generating practices that make the sector more market-ready, productive, and resilient. At Corteva, we are committed to helping farmers deliver high-quality and export grade produce for both domestic and export markets through integrated crop solutions, climate-smart agricultural practices, and targeted on-ground stewardship, shared Mr. Leeladhar Telugu, Marketing Lead biologicals, Corteva Agriscience.
"India Horticulture Summit 2026, shows a powerful opportunity to unlock the true potential of high-value horticulture in India. At Mondelez, we are committed to strengthening the cocoa ecosystem by working directly with farmers through our Cocoa Life program—driving sustainable livelihoods, enhancing productivity, and building resilient value chains for the future” said Mr. Roopak Bhat, Director, Cocoa Operations, Global Procurement, Mondelez India Foods Pvt. Ltd.
" Horticulture summit is a right kind of forum to align right policies that would be favourable for the fastest growing healthy food sector. Good effort to bring different stakeholders into single platform for policy formulation emphasized Mr. Mihir Mohanta, GM, Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt. Ltd.
Mr. Chirag Jain, Partner, Grant Thornton Bharat LLP emphasized that ‘Shifting from food to nutrition security through horticulture is key to raising farmer incomes—driven by productivity, quality, and better market alignment. Investing in quality planting material, private-sector innovation, and sustainable cold-chain infrastructure, alongside strengthening FPOs, contract farming, and hyper-local production, will be critical to improving efficiency, price realisation, and access to nutrition’.
FICCI-Grant Thornton Report – ‘Vision 2030: Focusing on high-value horticulture for Atmanirbhar Bharat’, was released during the event.
Key highlights of the report:
- Achieving India’s premium horticulture ambition ultimately rests on orchestrating policy alignment, industry investment, and farmer adoption into a single, reinforcing execution engine. India’s high‑value horticulture sector has the scale, market demand, and policy momentum to become a central driver of farmer income growth and agri‑industrialisation. However, persistent upstream weaknesses, fragmented value chains, and weak market anchoring have limited the realisation of this potential.
- The report highlights that a mission‑led, market‑backed transformation anchored in clean planting material production, orchard rejuvenation, localised processing, export readiness, and productive partnerships is essential to unlock durable value. Sequenced correctly and executed through partnerships, these pillars can convert public investment into sustained private participation, improve asset utilisation, reduce import dependence, and position India as a trusted global supplier of premium horticulture products.
- The imperative now is coordinated action. With disciplined execution and alignment across government, industry, and producers, high‑value horticulture can deliver structurally higher incomes, stronger exports, and lay a strong foundation for Atmanirbharta in the next decade.
- India’s horticulture sector now accounts for a disproportionately large share of agricultural value‑addition and has surpassed foodgrains in total output. Yet, premium segments continue to be constrained by bottlenecks in planting material, fragmented post‑harvest systems, and uneven standards and traceability. As a result, India remains import‑dependent in several high‑value chains even though significant domestic processing capacity remains underutilised.
- Vision 2030 seeks to turn this asymmetry into an advantage — shifting the sector from volume to value, from import dependence to domestic value‑addition, and from fragmented schemes to an integrated mission platform that simultaneously scales productivity, quality, exports and livelihoods.
- The next step is to articulate a clear, actionable pathway for achieving this vision. The roadmap below breaks the journey into practical stages, outlining priority actions and expected outcomes that build sequentially: strengthening production, improving processing and quality systems, and positioning India’s horticulture sector more competitively in global markets.
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