Methodological issues relating to horticulture surveys in India

Abstract

Horticulture sector has emerged as an important component of the Indian economy. This sector of agriculture contributes to more than one-fourth share in the economy of agriculture and allied sectors. Fruits and vegetables account for nearly 90% of total horticulture production in the country. Although, India has emerged as a leading producer of these crops in the world, the reliable, adequate and timely estimates of the area and the production of these crops are not available from any source. In this paper, we report on the present methods of generation of data, pertaining to area and production of horticultural crops and the current methodologies under practice. We have also proposed alternative methodologies for estimation of area and production of horticultural crops. We have also worked out an optimum sample size for obtaining reliable estimates of production of fruits and vegetables. The estimates of total production of all major fruit and vegetable crops have been obtained for all the districts of Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh (H.P.). Using the new estimation procedure in Maharashtra, the estimates of total production of important fruit crops such as mango, orange, grape and banana were obtained with percentage standard error between 4.19 and 19.21 and the total production of vegetable crops such as onion, tomato, potato and brinjal with percentage standard error between 9.30 and 29.34. The estimates of total production of important fruit crops such as apple, mango, and orange in H.P. were obtained with percentage standard error between 0.09 and 18.51 and of potato, tomato and peas with percentage standard error between 0.22 and 24.05. It is expected that at district level, the total production of important fruits can be estimated with less than 10 percent standard error and the total production of important vegetables can be estimated with less than 15 percent standard error at 95 percent confidence interval, if 80 villages are selected from each selected district