Horticulture is a branch of agriculture that involved in research and development, marketing of fruits and vegetables, oenology- winemaking, post harvest physiology, viticulture, floriculture- flower produce, turf- grass for grazing, sports etc.

India has been bestowed with wide range of climate and physio-geographical conditions and as such is most suitable for growing various kinds of horticultural crops such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, nuts, spices and plantation crops (coco nut, cashew nut and cocoa). India is now the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world and is the leader in several horticultural crops, namely mango, banana, papaya, cashew-nuts, areca nut, potato and okra.

Government of India has established National Horticulture Board to improve integrated development of Horticulture industry and to help in coordinating, sustaining the production and processing of fruits and vegetables. Various schemes implemented by National Horticulture Board such as Commercial Horticulture Scheme, Cold storage scheme, Technology Development Transfer Scheme, Market Information Service Scheme, Horticulture Promotion Service.

The total horticulture production of the country has marginally increased by about 1.3% in 2017-18 as compared to 2016-17 and stood at 305.40 million tonnes during 2017-18.

Production of the fruits is estimated to be about 95 million tones which is 2% higher than previous years.