Introduction:
India grows a large number of vegetables from temperate to humid tropics and from sea level to the snowline. Vegetables are an excellent source of vitamins, particularly niacin, riboflavin, thiamin and vitamins A and C. Most of the vegetables being short-duration crops fit very well in the intensive cropping system and are capable of giving very high yields with very high economic returns to the growers.
Varieties: The major varieties under different vegetables are as follows Potato (Kufri Sindhuri, Kufri Chandramukhi, Kufri Badshah, Kufri Bahar), Tomato (Vaishali, Rupali, Rashmi, Rajni, Pusa Ruby), Cauliflower(Pusa Deepali, Early Kunwari, Punjab Giant-26, Pant Shubhra, Dania Kalimpong), Cabbage (Golden Acre, Pusa Mukta, Pusa Drumhead, K-1), etc.
Production and Area:
The major areas producing fresh vegetables are West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. The area under vegetable cultivation and production in the year 2023-24 is as in below table (2nd Advance Estimate).
| Production in FY24’ (Mt)(Mil) | Area under Cultivation in FY24’ (ha)(Mil) | |
| Other Fresh Vegetable | 204.49 | 11.12 |
Export:
India is a prominent exporter of fresh vegetables in the world. The country has exported 918,107.63 MT of Fresh Vegetables other than Onion to the world, worth Rs. 2,938.27 crores/ 354.54 USD Millions during the year 2023-24.
| Export Volume FY24 (MT) | Exported in FY24 (USD Mil) | |
| Other Fresh Vegetable | 918,107.63 | 354.54 |
Major Export Destinations (2023-24):
United Arab Emts, Bangladesh, Nepal, U.K, Oman, Sri Lanka and Qatar.