Union Minister launches "Horticulture Cluster Development Programme"

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The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has launched the Horticulture Cluster Development Programme(CDP).

Horticulture Cluster Development Programme(CDP) aims at growing and developing identified horticulture clusters to make them globally competitive.
- A cluster is a group of enterprises. They are located within an identifiable and, as far as practicable, contiguous area and producing similar products or services.
Nodal Agency: The nodal agency for the programme will be the National Horticulture Board(NHB). It will implement the programme as a Central Sector Component of NHB.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare(MoA&FW) has identified 53 horticulture clusters. Of which 12 have been selected for the pilot launch of the programme.
- Based on the learnings from the pilot project, the programme will be scaled up to cover all the identified clusters.
These clusters will be implemented through Cluster Development Agencies(CDAs). CDAs are appointed on the recommendations of the respective State/UT Government.

Firstly, the programme will address all major issues related to the Indian horticulture sector. This includes pre-production, production, post-harvest management, logistics, marketing and branding.
Secondly, the programme is designed to leverage geographical specialisation and promote integrated and market-led development of horticulture clusters.
Thirdly, the programme is expected to converge with other initiatives of the Government such as the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund.

The programme will benefit about 10 lakh farmers and related stakeholders of the value chain in the Horticulture Sector.
The programme is expected to improve the exports of the targeted horticultural crops by approximately 20%.
Moreover, the programme is expected to attract an estimated investment of INR 10,000 crore. It is when implemented in all the 53 clusters.

Source: PIB