India has prime position in the world scenario of vegetable production and has reached the second position in the world next only to China.
Export Performance
Vegetables are proved to have more export potential than other crops. The export performance of the country over the years is given below.
Commodity/Year |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
Growth |
| Vegetable Products | ||||
| Fresh or Dried | 33 |
170 |
170 |
9.30 |
| Vegetables Fresh | 21879 |
16862 |
16862 |
19.65 |
| Vegetable Dehydrated | 4715 |
6731 |
6731 |
25.47 |
| Vegetable Preserved by Vinegar | 15597 |
18390 |
18000 |
12.64 |
| Vegetable prepared | 955 |
140 |
140 |
7.59 |
| Vegetable Frozen | 10251 |
6398 |
6398 |
-13.19 |
| Vegetable in Temperature preservative | 37780 |
26688 |
25000 |
30.17 |
| Vegetable Prepared or Preservative Frozen | 181 |
340 |
340 |
7.51 |
| Vegetable Prods for Feed | 150 |
13 |
13 |
-2.81 |
| Total | 91541 |
75732 |
73654 |
11.93 |
Specific requirements of Vegetables for Export Purpose
The uniformity in size and colour are considered to be general quality traits of universal acceptance for any crop apart from several other specific qualities for the external market.
The specific requirements of some of the vegetables for export are given here.
Vegetables |
Specific Requirement for Export |
| Onion | 4-6cm light to dark red color, round shape,strong pungency for Gulf market and South East Asian markets yellow brown color,7-10cm ,round or spindle shape for European and Japanese markets |
| Big Onion | |
| Small onion | 2-3cm size bulblets of bright red color |
| Multiplier onion | 2.5-3.5cm size bulblets or bright red color |
| Garlic | White round 5cm and above, bigger cloves of 10-12cm and above with 10-15 in number for Bangladesh and SriLanka 4-5cm size bulbs are also acceptable. |
| Chilies | Green,tender,6-9cm long |
| Okra | Green tender, 6-9cm long |
| Bitter gourd | Green,20-25cm long having short neck |
| Bottle gourd | Light green, straight cylindrical in shape, 25-30cm long. |
| Tomato | Medium size,dark red color, intact bunch |
| French beans | 10-12cm long,straight,round and green pods in the beans.Flat beans having 12-3cm length and straight pods are also in demand in European markets |
| Cluster beans | Green tender 7-10cm long |
Export Destination
There are about 63 items of vegetables are traded in the world market like dehydrated canned and processed form in addition to fresh ones. The various items have large demand in world market like vegetable seeds are demanded in USA, Japan, Italy, Pakistan, Netherlands, dried and preserved vegetables are demanded in Egypt, Sri Lanka UAE, USA, Turkey and other processed vegetables are demanded in Netherlands, Indonesia, UK, USA, UAE.
India’s export potential in world market as per FAO 1999 data is shown below.
| Commodity | World |
Asia |
SAARC |
India |
| Vegetables Dehydrated | 355741 |
183714 |
6825 |
6731 |
| Vegetables Fresh | 1554237 |
698976 |
24616 |
16862 |
| Vegetables Frozen | 21255582 |
3295257 |
6452 |
6398 |
| Vegetables Preserved by Vinegar | 696329 |
188440 |
19085 |
18000 |
| Vegetables prepared | 2365223 |
546912 |
141 |
140 |
| Vegetables in Temp. preservation | 329225 |
243911 |
29043 |
25000 |
| Vegetables Prep.or Pres.Frozen |
141965 |
26668 |
344 |
340 |
| Vegetables Prod fresh or Dried | 96168 |
74748 |
880 |
170 |
| Vegetables products for Feed | 860895 |
119951 |
13 |
13 |
Total |
8533762 |
2412577 |
87399 |
73654 |
(Sources: -- FAO )
The significant contribution of India in SAARC’s export performance needs no further elaboration. Vegetable from organic farming is another prominent area in external markets due to increasing public awareness about the environmental and health hazards of agro-chemical. Vegetables free from residue effects of pesticides, fungicides or other agro chemical are demanded in world trade. Sustained export trade can be built with assured supply of desired quality meeting international market standards.
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