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Indians love to consume POT. Hence India produces a lot of POT. The P-O-T I am referring to is Potato, Onion and Tomatoe. ;). From just 41% in 2003, POT today constitutes 52% of all vegetables produced in India. 1 out of 2 vegetables produced in India is the POT basket. 1/8
While overall productivity growth is quite abysmal at 1.4% CAGR, POT basket has outperformed the others. Consider this: We produce 19 tons of Onions per hectare as against just 11 tons in 2002 translating to a CAGR of 3.2%. 2/8
We produce 25 tons of Tomatoes as against just 16 tons in 2002 translating to a CAGR of 2.5%. Peas (10 tons vs 6) has seen a CAGR of 2.3%. (Cold storage?).Rest of the pack such as Brinjal, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Tapioca etc has seen poor growth in productivity. (0.2%-0.7% CAGR)
Overall production numbers reflect the same story. From a mere 5.2 million tons in 2002, we produce 27 million tons of Onions translating to CAGR of 9.5%. Production CAGR of Potatoes and Tomatoes are 4.2% and 5.8% respectively while overall veg production CAGR is 4.4%. 4/8
For perspective, Cabbage production has barely doubled 5.6 million tons to 9.2 millions in this 18 year period. Tapioca has seen a de-growth in production. 5/8
What about acreage? While India’s acreage growth is 2.9% CAGR, P-O-T has seen a CAGR of 3%-6%-3.2% respectively. Acreage for Sweet Potato and Tapioca have de-grown by 0.7% and 2.1% respectively. 6/8
Why the obsession with POT? Lion’s share of productivity increase and acreage increase has been towards POT. Are native vegetables losing out? Is this due to standardisation? Vegetables = POT? The only other winner seems to be peas. 7/8
What demonetisation was for payment apps, Covid should’ve been for Big Baskets and Grofers of the world. Clearly it hasn’t (so far). May be the only way to make it work is to standardise and produce veggies and limit the options for the buyer at the cost of native veggies? 8/8
