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Project Detail:
Himachal Pradesh Subtropical Horticulture, Irrigation, and Value Addition Project.
Himachal Pradesh is a small state with more than 50% of its areas in mountains and less than 10% in cultivation. The state's economic growth in the 1990s was driven by agriculture and its allied activities, but has gradually shifted to the industrial/manufacturing and services sectors. Still, Himachal Pradesh is the only state in India where 90% of the state's population live in rural areas and nearly 62% of the state population relies on agriculture and its allied sectors for employment. Despite the importance of agriculture in the livelihood of large rural population, there is a distinct agricultural development gap between the northern (or temperate horticulture areas) and southern (or subtropical horticulture areas) parts of Himachal Pradesh. Subtropical horticulture farmers earn only $116 per month while temperate horticulture farmers earn about $1,550 per month. Temperate horticulture in northern Himachal Pradesh has been dominated by the production of apple, which is the most important fruit crop for the state accounting for 79% of the state's fruit production in 2017 -2018. The state recognizes the need to diversity horticulture production. This is because apple production fluctuates due to weather and changing markets, and the potential to reduce income disparity between the northern and southern parts of Himachal Pradesh, benefiting from accessing off season markets of other fruits and vegetables in the subtropical area. The State Government of Himachal Pradesh requested the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support development of horticulture in subtropicalareas of the state, and reduce income gap between farmers in subtropical and temperate horticulture regions.
Note: Please Download Project Document attached to this Project for more information.
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