CLIMATE CHANGE: RESILIENT ISLAND HORTICULTURE - Climate Dynamics in Horticultural Science - page 111

and tuber crops, floriculture, mushroom, medical plants, etc., and the sec-
tor contributes nearly 24.5 percent of national share of agricultural GDP
and is considered as third pillar of Island economy (Singh et al., 2011a).
Unfortunately, the productivity of horticultural crops in islands still
remains near to stagnant over the years (Fig. 7.1). But, the demand has
increased manifold due to increased population and tourist inflow. Resul-
tantly, islands are facing scarcity of locally grown horticultural products
and largely depend on shipment from mainland. This results in peculiar
phenomena like ship to mouth, monotonous dietary pattern and huge trans-
portation losses with high cost of perishable food items. This led Islands to
a high cost economy and is proving a deterrent to tourist inflow as well as
adding to the cost of development. Further, after the Supreme Court order
for banning of logging of forests, production base and the employment
opportunities have shrunken.

FIGURE 7.1 Trend in productivity of horticultural crops in islands.

A study on carrying capacity for Andaman and Nicobar Islands (2009)
projections indicate that islands will be able to meet the local demand of
horticultural crops by 2021 will continue to do so for increasing popula-
tion and tourists ( Table 7.1 ) . But, over the years the area under horticultur-
al remains nearly constant however, significant rise in area was observed
in vegetables and flowers ( Table 7.2 ) and larger proportions of the area
(86%) is being used in dry season as Rice-vegetable cropping system.