Introduction Under broader definitions, horticulture is related to all activities that go on in the field. It is the growing of plants, flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Horticulture is actually derived from the Latin words hortus, that means garden, and cultura, which means cultivation. It is a part of plant agriculture and is different from the field crops and forestry. It is the branch of agriculture that is concerned with intensively cultured plants for food, medicinal purposes, and esthetic gratification. Another definition of horticulture states that it is a science and art of cultivation, propagation and marketing of ornamental plants. Horticulture focuses on value-added crops that are grown for beauty and utility. Horticultural crops include the fruits, vegetables and nuts that are used by man for food and the flowers and ornamental plants for esthetic and medicinal uses.
Horticultural supply chain
There are a dominant supermarkets based on the horticultural supply chain, where the product price and volume are specified by the customers. The domestic suppliers have undergone considerable streamlining, and oftener face many challenges such as globalization of trade, new environmental legislation, and rapidly changing consumer demands. Globalization of trade has led to a rise in the completion, and there are new opportunities for retailers to get competitively priced products from different parts of the world. The growers must keep the prices competitive to stay in the market. Horticultural farmers to look for novel and efficient production and harvesting systems that are both cost and labor-saving (Cole32-5). Apart from efficient and environmentally acceptable conditions, they also look for the right technologies ensure the quality of the produce that is required in the market. Waste reduction and management is kept in mind while improving horticultural crop quality and productivity.
The horticultural supply chains are often made of different various stakeholders with different perspectives related to the particular requirements a horticultural product. A consumer is an essential precondition within the horticultural supply chain that needs a successful cooperation. What adds to the challenges are the changing consumer preferences and shifting social and personal values. As a result, specific food trends develop and keep changing to meet the current demand of food. The horticultural products must satisfy the quality to meet consumer preferences (Schreiner et al, 63-9), but in another, more fundamental as well as ensure food security for each consumer. THz diverse consumer demands for horticulture products only add to tot the already existing challenges in this sector.
Sustainable and environment friendly horticulture
Research is going on in the strategic topics of particular interest in the area of pest and disease control, strategic. These include disease control with suppressive soils and microbial supplements and composting green and industrial wastes. The purpose is to control of human pathogens in fresh produce and follow state-of-the-art approaches to breeding for long-lasting pest and disease resistance.
Agriculture came under great stress over last decades. Due to a reduction in agricultural growth, there is a situation of agrarian distress developing. Horticulture sector can play a significant role in speeding up agricultural growth. Horticultural crops carry a strong potential of higher return on capital, labor, and land. Agricultural growth is a result of changes in the cropped area, returns and yield. When data on area, returns, and yield were looked at in the study, it was found that each of these components had an impact on the final growth. In the long run, the price-driven growth relies on the yield improvements and diversification of production portfolio (Birthal, et al, 310). The price policy is one of the factors that is responsible for slow agricultural growth. On the other hands, the robust growth in horticulture is demand led. The share of fruits and vegetables has increased in the urban food expenditure, and the demand is supported by an improvement in the infrastructure. Farmers growing interest towards Horticultural crops can be attributed to the profitability. The decline in the prices and yield of agricultural crops motivate the farmers towards the Horticultural crops and among these crops, the vegetables make for a substantial component. The result shows that providing that the production and marketing constraints are removed for the small farmers; they would show more inclination towards the Horticultural crops. However, the excessive diversifications towards the high-value cash crops can affect the food security. The cropping pattern needs to be optimized without affecting the food security. Thus, horticulture led growth can make significant improvements in improving the livelihood of small farmers.
Horticultural production is often focused on higher productivity with an intensive use of fertilizers, thus resulting in high environmental costs. Recent research shows that higher application of nitrogen can lead to negative effects on the quality of produce and the vitamin content within fruits and vegetables. Consumer awareness regarding these aspects can lead to a market for Horticultural produce that is grown on minimal nitrogen and water. The link between the environmental and the nutritional quality of horticultural crops is getting stronger.
Dealing with food shortage and environment Agricultural research in the past few decades has primarily focused how to increase productivity through intensification of input and how to food shortages. The importance of sustainability to consumers is on the price and the interactions of agriculture with the natural environment have begun to emerge strongly in political, social and economic agendas (Dario, Goodwin and Jones, 1833-43). One of the highly desirable aspects of sustainability from the angle of environmental and social aspects is to reduce the input of water and nitrogen. Studies show that how by manipulating the field growing conditions, the content of phytonutrients can be maximized while limiting environmental losses. A good quality horticultural produce can be created only when in each plant growth stage, the water, and nutrient inputs are applied to maximize dry matter accumulation. There is a need for further research on effects and limits of the reduction of water and Nitrogen. However, the means of lowering N and water on human health compounds in fruit and vegetables is often the variety dependent. The complexity of horticultural system needs a holistic approach, and interdisciplinary management is essential to improving the product quality based on social gains from human health.
The horticulture production process is made of a highly complex system controlled by insects, diseases, weeds, weather, soil, nutrition, prices and interactions. The knowledge of the complete system is limited at the moment, understanding of the whole system is rather limited. The system that works behind should be capable of acclimatizing to meet the ever-changing conditions and requirements. In the near future, one can foresee the special decision aids available for unique problems related to horticulture. These decision aids should make use of individual farm data wherever possible, as well as be easy to use. The farmer using the decision support model should be aware of the benefits. When confronted with strategic decisions in horticulture, he should be able to make a precise decision. The most promising application field is encouragement of structured and repeated problems with better known alternative solutions (Lentz, 151-74).
Despite research and development for more than two decades in the area, a common experience is that most farmers do not use the Decision Support systems created for horticulture. Their models will be applied and used only when farmers are confident that they can derive answers based on the methods and techniques in the real world. The use of information systems often gets more difficult when a mix of optimization and simulation methods is necessary with the creativity. The farmer’s role as a manager needs to be encouraged in order to change the situation.
Consumer preferences are very dynamic, and today, an increased health awareness and environmental consciousness lead to new demands and requirements, especially in the food market. The food production and food processing is looked at suspicion due to recurring food scandals. Customers are looking for a natural food experience and are demanding unprocessed fresh food that is made within organic standards. The ornamental plants do not have to achieve any nutritional needs, but play an important role in the lifestyle. However, the buying decisions are based, for example, on the therapeutic value of these plants and different quality perceptions. The consumption of fruits and vegetables is valued because of their health-promoting properties and preventing nutrition-related diseases. The consumers in the well-developed countries have a choice of consuming a nutritious diet. Billions of people in other developing nations suffer due to lack of food. The horticultural land is increasingly used for the cultivation of energy plants is order to be a source to petro-chemical resources. This is also leading to a food-energy competition. The food insecurity and malnutrition remain a persistent challenge in developing countries and the perspective of quality does not hold in the poorer countries, where the focus is more on the quantity. Lack of food security, imbalanced diets and low fruit and vegetable consumption are a burning topic of debate in the developing countries.
Urban horticulture
Urban horticulture relates to the horticultural plants produce in a city or suburb that is economically viable, plus, caries the potential to reduce CO2 emissions. The higher productivity in limited areas and lower resources effectively is looked upon to be more advantageous than growing those horticultural crops in open fields. Simple case studies have done to study the significance of urban horticulture and how they can help reduce CO2 emissions (Ohyama et al, 241-7). The produce in agriculture and horticulture that is made of crops, vegetables, fruits, etc. are taken to the location of consumption. In the process, gasoline, light oil, liquefied natural gas, etc. get consumed and these lead to the emission of CO2 gas, which is a major reason behind global warming. The transportation sector is one of the largest emitter of CO2 gases.
Greenhouses are plant production systems that are considered to be very suitable for urban horticulture, and promise different possible ways of making suitable systems. In urban horticulture, as the production and consumption areas are in close proximity, the shorter transportations would lead to lower CO2 emissions. Thus, urban horticulture promises to be environmentally friendly and uses fewer resource inputs, while limiting the production area.
However, the challenge here is the limited area of urban land that can be made available for horticultural plant production. Plus, the weather requirements for certain kinds of plants can be difficult to meet at times. However, by redesigning existing systems, the urban horticulture can lead to further reduction in CO2 emissions and use of fewer inputs artificial resources.
References
Cole, David. "Horticulture Link: A Growing Success for Industry." Outlooks on Pest Management 14.1 (2003): 32-5. Print.Lentz, W. "Model Applications in Horticulture: A Review."Scientia Horticulturae 74.1 (1998): 151-74. PriOhyama, Katsumi, Michiko Takagaki, and Hidefumi Kurasaka. "Urban Horticulture: Its Significance to Environmental Conservation." Sustainability Science 3.2 (2008): 241-7. Print.
Pratap S Birthal, et al. "Can Horticulture Revitalise Agricultural Growth?" Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics 63.3 (2008): 310. Print.
Schreiner, M., et al. "Current Understanding and use of Quality Characteristics of Horticulture Products." Scientia Horticulturae163 (2013): 63-9. Print.
Stefanelli, Dario, Ian Goodwin, and Rod Jones. "Minimal Nitrogen and Water use in Horticulture: Effects on Quality and Content of Selected Nutrients." Food Research International43.7 (2010): 1833-43. Print.
