Growth and instability in vegetable production in Himachal Pradesh

The study aims to examine the growth performance of vegetables in Himachal Pradesh. The study is entirely based on secondary data collected from various publications of the state government. The trends in area, production and yield of major vegetables in Himachal Pradesh were worked out through compound growth rate, instability index and decomposition analysis. The analysis was done for the period, triennium ending (TE) 1997-98 to 2021-22. The study revealed that area, production and productivity of vegetable crops increased during the study period, however, the increase in area and production was higher than increase in the productivity. Also, the growth trend of total vegetable crops in the state was significant in area (5.47% p.a), production (6.64% p.a) and productivity (1.12% p.a). Among different vegetables grown in the state, greatest increase in the area, production and productivity was found in cauliflower followed by peas. The peas had dominated the cropping pattern with maximum share in area (27.53%) and tomato had maximum share in the production (27.80%). The instability in area, production and yield of selected vegetables and total vegetables was found very low which indicated that area under vegetables has increased steadily. Decomposition analysis of vegetable production revealed that overall increase in production of vegetable crops was due to area expansion. It was concluded that both agro-ecological as well as economic factors favour the cultivation of vegetable crops in Himachal Pradesh.