Growth and Instability in Production of Major Fruits Grown in India

India is the 2nd largest producer of fruits in the world. In this paper, an attempt has been made to analyze growth and to estimate the level of variability/instability in area, production and productivity of major fruit crops grown in India using the data for the period 2010-11 to 2018-19. The instability was estimated using Coppock's instability index. The study revealed that orange recorded highest growth rate in production (7.80%) followed by guava (7.01%), total citrus (6.97%), grapes (6.53%), etc. Banana is the only fruit crop under study which recorded negative growth in productivity (-0.35%). However, production increased at annual growth rate of 1.15percent which is due to area growth of 1.49 percent. The study further revealed that grapes recorded highest instability in production whereas orange recorded highest instability in area. In case of lemon and papaya instability in area contributed more than instability in productivity for causing instability in production whereas in case of orange, the instability in area and productivity was almost same. In case of all other fruit crops, instability in productivity contributed more than instability in area for causing instability in production. The growth rate of production of fruits can be increased through price incentives, farmers' education through extension services, better marketing infrastructure facilities, etc.