TheNews21 Policy Desk | Edited by Vivek Bhavsar
Mumbai: India’s horticulture sector is often presented as a success story. Production is rising, exports are growing, and policy attention is sharper than ever before. Yet, beneath this narrative lies a paradox that the FICCI and Grant Thornton Bharat report itself acknowledges with clarity. Even as India produces more, it continues to depend heavily on imports across several high-value horticulture segments.
The contradiction is difficult to ignore. India is among the world’s largest producers of fruits, vegetables and plantation crops, and yet it imports raw materials and finished products in categories where it has both capacity and demand. This is not a marginal imbalance. It is structural.
Take cashew. India has one of the largest processing industries in the world, but nearly 60 per cent of its raw cashew requirement is imported. Domestic production has not kept pace with demand, even as processing capacity remains underutilised . The result is a system where Indian factories process imported raw material, adding value for global markets, while domestic supply continues to lag.
A similar pattern is visible in cocoa. Domestic production meets less than 20 per cent of India’s requirement, forcing the country to rely heavily on imports of beans and derivatives. Demand is rising steadily, driven by expanding consumption of chocolate and processed food products, but the production base remains limited. The gap between demand and supply is not narrowing. It is widening.
The apple sector presents another dimension of the same issue. India produces apples in significant quantities, particularly in the Himalayan regions, but continues to import large volumes to meet consumer demand. Imported apples dominate premium retail shelves due to better grading, consistency and branding, highlighting the challenges within domestic supply chains.
These examples are not isolated. They point to a deeper misalignment within the horticulture ecosystem. Production, processing and market demand are not moving in sync. In several value chains, India is simultaneously a producer, an importer and a processor, without achieving balance in any of these roles.
This paradox becomes even more significant when viewed alongside the growth in exports. India’s fresh fruits and vegetables exports have grown steadily over the past few years, supported by improvements in infrastructure, logistics and compliance systems. Yet, export growth has not eliminated import dependence. Both trends are rising together.
The explanation lies not in a lack of production, but in the nature of that production. Issues such as inconsistent quality, inadequate grading, weak traceability systems and fragmented supply chains limit the ability of domestic produce to meet the requirements of both processors and export markets. As a result, industries turn to imports to ensure consistency and scale.
The report identifies this as a structural paradox. On one hand, domestic processing capacity exists but is underutilised. On the other, imports continue to fill the gap between what the market demands and what the domestic ecosystem can reliably supply. This coexistence of surplus capacity and import dependence reflects a deeper inefficiency in the system.
It also raises an important question. If India is producing more than ever before, why is it unable to meet its own demand in high-value segments?
Part of the answer lies in the fragmentation of production. Small landholdings, uneven access to quality planting material and limited adoption of best practices lead to variations in output. These variations affect not just quantity, but also quality and consistency, which are critical for processing and exports.
Another factor is the weak integration between farmers and markets. In many cases, farmers grow what they can, not what the market demands. Without strong linkages to processors, exporters or organised buyers, production decisions remain disconnected from value chains.
The result is a system where output is high, but value realisation remains limited. Farmers produce, but industries import. Markets demand, but supply fails to align. Capacity exists, but utilisation remains suboptimal.
This is the paradox at the centre of India’s horticulture story. Growth in production has not translated into self-reliance in value chains. Expansion in exports has not reduced dependence on imports. And increased policy focus has not yet resolved the disconnect between farm and market.
The vision outlined in the report recognises this challenge. It calls for a shift towards a more integrated, market-linked approach that aligns production with demand and strengthens value chains from the ground up. But recognising the paradox is only the first step.
The real question is whether the system can correct itself.
That question becomes sharper when the focus shifts from data to the ground. Because if the structure of the value chain is not aligned, the burden of this imbalance does not fall on the system. It falls on the farmer.
That is where this series now turns.
