Horticulture Development in Nepal: Prospects, Challenges and Strategies

Nepal has different ecological belts endowed with different types of climates due to its geographical locations for the production of horticultural crops. Government organizations were not in existence for the development of horticulture sector before 1950, yet growing of fruits, vegetables, spices and flowers started from time immemorial in private sector. After the creation of Department of Horticulture during sixties several horticulture farms were established in different agro-ecological zones where research and extension programs were launched and horticulture development took momentum. There is tremendous scope for commercial horticultural crops production to enter into the international market. Due to subsistence farming system, poor infra-structure, transportation facilities, linkage to the international market and technical know-how, horticulture development could not gain momentum as expected. The productivity of horticultural crops comparing with two giant neighboring countries i.e. China and India does not give matching results but in case of spices especially in large cardamom, Nepal's productivity is higher than these two countries. Large cardamom, ginger, tea and coffee have played significant role in trade balance while in case of fruits, flowers and some of the fresh vegetables Nepal faces still trade deficit.