Despite paddy boom, Telangana imports vegetables worth Rs 4k cr annually | Hyderabad News

Hyderabad: Telangana’s agricultural landscape has undergone a sharp transformation over the past decade. While paddy cultivation has expanded dramatically, vegetable production has failed to keep pace with rising demand, forcing the state to depend heavily on supplies from across the country. Rough estimates indicate Telangana now imports vegetables worth nearly Rs 4,000 crore annually.Data accessed by TOI highlights the scale of this dependence. Bowenpally vegetable market in Secunderabad, the state’s largest wholesale vegetable hub, alone imported vegetables worth Rs 1,572 crore from other states in 2025-26.

The market received 60.28 lakh quintals of vegetables from Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal during the year.The trend has remained strong over the past three years. In 2024-25, Bowenpally received 58.57 lakh quintals of vegetables valued at Rs 1,740.04 crore, while in 2023-24, arrivals stood at 53.38 lakh quintals worth Rs 1,350.72 crore.Telangana’s vegetable basket is increasingly being sourced from outside its borders. Tomatoes arrive from Anantapur, Chittoor and Karnataka, while onions are brought mainly from Maharashtra and Karnataka. Green peas come from Jodhpur, parwal from Kolkata, and amla from Jaipur and Jodhpur.Several other vegetables, including carrots, cauliflower, capsicum and different varieties of brinjal, are sourced largely from Maharashtra and Karnataka. Bottle gourd, cluster beans and drumsticks are supplied from Andhra Pradesh and other producing centres.The dependence on imports persists despite horticulture being one of the most valuable segments of Telangana’s farm economy. Though horticulture accounts for only around 6% of the state’s cultivated area, it contributes nearly 25% of agriculture’s gross value output.Agriculture experts say the state’s overwhelming focus on paddy is limiting growth in high-value crops. Professor D Raji Reddy, vice-chancellor of Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Horticultural University, said farmers need to diversify. “Farmers need to look beyond paddy. Farmers must understand that horticulture crops give more income in the open market, Telangana has strong domestic market and suitable conditions to grow so they must look towards horticulture crops,” he said.Official data shows horticulture has expanded only modestly over the last decade. The area under horticultural crops, including agroforestry, increased from 9.53 lakh acres in 2014-15 to 12.46 lakh acres in 2024-25.The contrast with paddy is stark. Paddy acreage surged from 35 lakh acres in 2014-15 to 130 lakh acres in 2025-26, turning Telangana into one of the country’s leading rice-producing states.PJTAU prepares crop contingency plansTo help horticulture farmers cope with potential El Nino-induced stress, Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Horticultural University has prepared crop contingency plans for fruit and vegetable cultivation, with a focus on drought-resilient varieties, efficient water-use practices, and preventive measures against pests and diseases.It is also stepping up farmer outreach through training programmes and field demonstrations on modern techniques such as organic vegetable cultivation, protected farming and fruit nursery management. In addition, the university is offering short-term certification courses and facilitating the transfer of technologies developed at research stations to farmers’ fields.