Area and Production of Fruits in Punjab: An Appraisal of Kinnow

Punjab, despite being the laggard state in the production of fruits, leads in productivity levels. Due to sandy loam and suitable weather conditions, the area under kinnow cultivation is continuously increasing at a much faster pace than the total area under fruits. Alone Fazilka district is producing around 58 percent kinnow of the state. However, the trend line of Simpson Diversification index shows that the specialization of few crops is taking place instead of diversification. Some major issues regarding the production and marketing of High-Value Crops that inhibits the diversification from wheat-paddy such as inefficient marketing system, high price fluctuations, sensitive to diseases and bad weather conditions, lack of storage facilities and thereby occurrence of post-harvest losses etc. Hence, better pricing policies and cold storage facilities should be developed in the state.