Government
of Andhra Pradesh has identified horticulture as
one of the thrust areas in agriculture and number
of programmes were implemented resulting in the
generation of higher incomes in the rural areas,
improving the quality of life in villages, bridge
the gap that exists in access to education, health
and other services between rural and urban areas
and created gainful employment opportunities on
a self sustaining basis.
The Horticulture sector in Andhra Pradesh will account
for 4.01% of states agricultural GSDP and growing
at a rate of more than 7% per annum during the last
ten years. The area under horticulture crops in
the state has increased from 5.08 lakh hectares
during 1988-89 to 15.79 lakh hectares during 2004
–05 in the last 16 years. (Present area and production
is appended)
Horticulture
crops covering a wide variety of fruits, Vegetables,
root & tuber crops, spices plantation crops,
mushrooms, floriculture, medicinal and aromatic
plants, etc.