NEW DELHI: There has been a decline in production of popular kitchen staples like tomato , onion and potato (TOP) in 2017-18 crop year as compared to 2016-17, but overall horticulture production in the country still touched a new high —thanks to 4.5% higher fruits production during the year.Past output data also showed farmers’ gradual shift towards horticulture crops whose production has consistently been outstripping that of foodgrains for the last six years.Latest production figures, released by the agriculture ministry on Wednesday, show that the total horticulture production was estimated to be 306.8 million tonnes (MT) during 2017-18 which is 2% higher than the previous year.Though the overall production of vegetables too was higher by 1% in 2017-18 as compared to the previous year, the increase was mainly attributed to non-TOP crops such as beans, brinjal, carrots, cabbage, cucumber, radish and others.The shift towards horticultural crops (fruits, vegetables, spices, flowers, plantation crops and others) was noticed in marginal increase in acreage as well. Figures show that the area under horticultural crops increased from 24.5 million hectares in 2015-16 to 24.8 million hectares in 2016-17 and to 25.6 million hectares in 2017-18.The shift can be attributed to the growing market and quicker cash flow as horticulture crops (mainly vegetables and fruits) require lesser time from sowing to marketing as compared to foodgrains. Besides, they also get higher returns for farmers.“It is a fact that farmers are shifting towards horticulture crops because of high profitability in comparison to foodgrains. But, it is not translated into adequate profits because of inefficient supply chains, near absence of processing units and lack of market intervention by government when prices fall,” said Sudhir Panwar, farm expert and former member of the Uttar Pradesh planning commission.Underlining the problem being faced by farmers of horticulture crops, the government had in its budget for 2018-19 made provisions of Rs 500 crore for ‘Operation Greens’ which aims is to promote farm logistics, processing facilities and professional management. It also aims to aid farmers and help control erratic fluctuations in the prices of onions, potatoes and tomatoes.Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had publicly emphasised his government’s priority to promote fruits and vegetables and used the acronym TOP for ‘tomato, onion and potato’ as these are the most popular vegetables across the country and needed attention.