National Horticulture Board on the Wing of Farmer Welfare and Horticultural Prosperity
Sh. B. Raja, Deputy Director NHB, Bangalore
The Indian horticulture sector bestows a booming 33% share in the agriculture Gross Value Added (GVA), portraying its significant contribution to Indian economy. As per the third advance estimates, the overall horticultural production was projected to be 353.19 million tons for the year 2023-24 (Source: Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ welfare). However, there is a slight decline of 0.65% in the production which could be associated with the climate change, lack of irrigation, degrading soil fertility, post-harvest losses, insufficient storage and logistic facilities.
The National Horticulture Board (NHB) – with the headquarters at Gurugram and 29 field offices across the country – operating under the administrative control of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare provide financial assistance to farmers and help them overcome the production related constraints. Presently Managing Director of NHB is Sh. Kapil Meena, IAS.
NHB encourages the farmers, agricultural entrepreneurs, farmer producer organizations, etc. to engage in hi-tech commercial horticulture, development of post-harvest and cold storage facilities by formulating the following schemes: 1) Development of commercial horticulture through production and post-harvest management of horticulture crops and 2) Capital investment subsidy scheme for construction/ expansion/ modernization of cold storage for horticultural produces.
The earlier scheme brings forth a credit-linked back-ended subsidy under the following three sub-schemes on project mode: a) commercial horticulture in open field conditions, b) commercial horticulture under protected structures and c) integrated post-harvest management. Provided that the crop is grown in an area above five acres, 40% of the project cost is subsidized for the open field cultivation of the following horticultural crops: aonla, almond, apple, apricot, banana, ber, lime, lemon, mandarin, sweet orange, custard apple, fig, grapes, guava, kiwi, mango, papaya, passion fruit, peach, pear, pineapple, plum, pomegranate, sapota, strawberry, walnut, jack fruit, cashew nut, coconut, olive, date palm, black pepper, cardamom, citronella, geranium, stevia, palmarosa, mint, celery and tamarind, with the ceiling limit fixed at Rs. 40 lakh per project. Financial support will be rendered only for pure crops, and not for mixed cropping. Mushroom cultivation and tissue culture laboratories are also eligible under this scheme.
Similarly, 50% subsidy of the total project cost is given for the protected cultivation of high-value vegetable (tomato, cucumber and coloured capsicum) and flower crops (rose, chrysanthemum, gerbera, carnation, orchid, anthurium and lilium) with cultivated area above 4000 sq. m. and the ceiling limit being Rs. 100 lakh per project. Further for the projects pertaining to post-harvest facilities such as pack house, ripening chamber, refer van, retail outlets, pre-cooling units and primary processing units, 35 % of the total project cost, is contributed through subsidy.
The second scheme on capital investment subsidy provides financial assistance of 35% of the capital cost for the construction, expansion and modernization of cold storage structures including controlled atmospheric storage (CA), given that the capacity is 5001-20000 MT. For example the ceiling limit for this scheme is set to Rs. 285.60 lakh for 10000 MT project.
To avail these subsidies, the farmers or the promoters must first apply for a term loan in any commercial banks or financial institutes. After the sanctioning of loan, GoC (Grant of Clearance) have to be applied through NHB website along with the detailed project report (DPR), technical data sheet (for protected structures and cold storage), bank sanction letter, bank appraisal note, legal search report and land documents. Only after the approval of GoC by NHB, the farmers can commence their project and the bank can disburse the term loan to the promoter. In case if the project has started or the loan is disbursed prior the approval, the project will be rejected. The project should be completed within eighteen months from the date of first term loan disbursement.
After the completion of project, Joint Inspection Team (JIT) consisting of officials from NHB, lending bank and State Horticulture department will visit the project site, evaluate the various production components – planting material, irrigation, mechanization, good agricultural practices, land development, store room and labour quarters – as per the cost norms furnished in NHB guidelines and derive the eligible project cost (EPC). On completion of the project, the applicant has to furnish the project completion certificate, term loan disbursement certificate, Chartered accountant certificate, NOC from NHM-MIDH, undertaking, etc. for claiming the subsidy. The subsidy will then be released based on the EPC worked out by the JIT and final decision by Internal Committee (IC)/Project Approval Committee (PAC).
Last year alone, pertaining to Karnataka state NHB has encouraged 43 projects by granting an amount of Rs. 30.57 crores across the state. Out of which, 30 and 13 projects were financially aided by NHB with the subsidy release of Rs. 9.73 and Rs.20.84 crore for commercial horticulture development and setting up cold storage, respectively. Thus, these profiteering schemes of NHB could evidently inspire the crop growers for carrying out the production and post-harvest management of horticultural crops.
For more details, visit www.nhb.gov.in
State Office:
The Deputy Director,
National Horticulture Board,
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare,
Govt. of India,
No.14/43, 2nd Floor,1 & 2 Stage Industrial Suburb, Tumkur Road, Yeshwantpur, Bengaluru-560 022, Tele/Fax 080-23371935, 23374149
E-mail : blrnhb@gmail.com
Head Office:
The Managing Director,
National Horticulture Board,
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare,
Govt. of India,
Plot no.: 85, Sector-18, Institutional area
Gurugram, Haryana – 122015
E-mail: md@nhb.gov.in
dmd.nhb@gov.in
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