Influence of Regional Weather Changes on Major Fruit Production and Productivity of Navsari District of Gujarat State, India

Horticulture is a priority sector in many states of India as it has potential to improving the socio economic condition of the farmers. Gujarat state is the fourth leading state in fruit production with 9% share at the national level. This study is conducted to correlate major weather parameters with the production of major fruit crops of Navsari district in Southern Gujarat. The study reveals that production and productivity of 4 major fruits (banana, mango, sapota and papaya) has moderate negative correlation with mean annual temperature (MAT) i.e > -50% except the productivity of land under banana. Whereas, it showed very weak negative and non significant relation with total annual Rainfall (TAR). Correlation of all four fruit production ranged between -34 to -53% and -0.7 to -62% for productivity with both MAT and TAR, respectively.