Horticulture, which includes crops such as vegetables, fruits, spices, plantation crops, cashew, medicinal and aromatic plants etc., is an important sector for potential diversification and value addition in agriculture. Horticultural crops, particularly fruits are now beginning to receive attention in view of its increasing commercial importance accentuated by quick transportation to vast internal market.

India accounts for nearly 10 per cent of world production of fruit crops with annual production of about 44 to 46 million tones. The major fruits accounting for bulk of the production are mango, banana, grape, citrus, apple, guava, papaya, and pineapple among which the country ranks first in world production of both mango and banana and the second largest producer of vegetables. The important vegetable crops produced in the country are cauliflower, pea, potato, tomato, brinjal, onion, okra, cabbage and cucurbits. India grows a wide variety of spices like black pepper, ginger, cardamom, turmeric, garlic, chilies etc. The area under spices is expanding and northeastern region is also becoming an important area for production of spices.