Fruit Crops: Cultivation Practices and Economics

Prosperity through fruit cultivation is the new slogan gaining much acceptance among policy makers. Presently, fruit culture has established its credibility in improving income through increased productivity, generating employment and enhancing export. The focused attention on investment in fruit production during the last decade has been rewarding in terms of increased production and productivity of fruits. India has emerged as second largest producer of fruits in the world. It has diverse climates and soil for cultivation of fruit crops providing ample opportunities for the development of fruit industry but the greatest challenge in present is to produce sufficient fruit to feed the ever-increasing human population. This demands infusion of technology for an efficient utilization of resources for deriving higher output per unit of input with excellent quality of the produce within short span of time. In the present era of open economy, it has become increasingly necessary that our produce is competitive, both in the domestic as well as in international markets. This would be possible only through deployment of high-tech application and precision farming methods. Fruits are very important for human beings and also play an important role in religious practices, mythology and art. They are not only delicious but also have many nutrients which are necessary for human health. Fruit production requires a lot of science and some basic fundamental knowledge to grow them successfully. This book compiles many fundamental issues of fruit production like layout and planting, many cultural practices, growth and bearing habits of fruit crops, planting and propagation method, disease and pest management as well as cost of cultivation etc. Understanding of all these topics will help the students and fruit growers for proper knowledge of fundamentals of fruit production. We hope that this book would also be helpful for fruit growers, nurserymen, farmers, teachers, scientists, extension officers and all those who wish to become familiar with the topic in relation to their professional interest. We have tried to keep the language as simple and straight forward as possible and consistent with accurate representation of the content. Every effort has been made to present the ideas in very easy and understandable language and the interests of each reader. We would like to recommend "Fruit Crops: Cultivation Practices and Economics" to students, educators, researchers, extension specialists and orchard practitioners for cultivation practices of fruit crops and their economics.