All India Coordinated Research Project on Vegetable Crops (AICRP-VC)

The particulars of its organisation, functions and duties

The All India Coordinated Research Project on Vegetable Crops (AICRP-VC) was initiated under the aegis of ICAR in the year 1971 with its head quarter at IARI, New Delhi. Vegetables are essentially the good source of vitamins, minerals and fibre. Due to its important role in balanced nutrition, the council upgraded its status to the level of Project Directorate in 1986 and it’s headquarter was shifted to Varanasi in the year 1992. Considering the excellent all round performance of Project Directorate, the council further raised its esteemed status of Indian Institute of Vegetable Research during April, 1999. From the February 2010 the AICRP (VC) has been endowed with the post of Project Coordinator to look after the progress made by the coordinated centres and monitor and solve their problems. It has multidisciplinary research programmes in all agro climatic zones with diverse responsibilities and also addresses the new emerging issues. The AICRP (VC) programmes are carried out at 36 regular & 22 voluntary centres.

Vision

To increase the Production, Productivity and Utilization of vegetables for Economic Livelihood and Nutritional Security

Objectives

To collect, evaluate and conserve the vegetable biodiversity that exists in different agro-climatic zones of the country
To combat the issues related to climate change and regional variations in productivity, development of improved varieties and hybrids resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses through multi-locational testing of mandated vegetable crops
To improve the soil health by enhancing the nutrient & water use efficiency, development of appropriate production technology for vegetable crops
To safer vegetable production, development and standardization of appropriate integrated protection module/technology for major diseases & insect-pests
To improve the quality seed production, standardization of the seed production technology of mandated vegetable crops
To maintain the seed production chain for uninterrupted seed supply, production of adequate quantity of breeder seed of vegetable crops as per the national requirements
To act as a national repository of scientific information relevant to vegetable crops

All India Coordinated Research Project on Vegetable Crops

AICRP-VC is a network of 36 regular and 24 voluntary centres located in different agro-climatic zones of the country. Since its establishment in 1971, AICRP-VC has been instrumental in recommending 584 vegetable varieties in 30 vegetables including 344 OP varieties, 181 hybrids & 59 resistant varieties. In addition, 464 production, 221 seed production, 57 physiology & biochemistry, 168 disease and 143 insect pest management technologies have been recommended. Also, AICRP-VC provides leadership for quality breeder seed production of different vegetables.

Crop wise No. of Varieties/ Hybrids / Resistant identified by AICRP (VC) from 1971-2024

#	Crops	Varietal	Hybrids	Resistant	Total
1.	Tomato	47	46	11	104
2.	Brinjal	61	45	11	117
3.	Chilli	25	21	-	46
4.	Capsicum	2	6	-	8
5.	Pea	33	-	14	47
6.	Cowpea	14	-	-	14
7.	Cherry tomato	1	-	-	1
8.	French bean	13	-	-	13
9.	Dolichos bean	15	-	-	15
10.	Okra	-	13	20	33
11.	Onion	25	-	-	25
12.	Garlic	10	-	-	10
13.	Cauliflower	17	9	-	26
14.	Cabbage	4	8	-	12
15.	Kale	1	-	-	1
16.	Carrot	6	1	-	7
17.	Muskmelon	10	3	3	16
18.	Water melon	4	3	-	7
19.	Bitter gourd	6	6	-	12
20.	Pumpkin	10	1	-	11
21.	Cucumber	4	7	-	11
22.	Ridge gourd	6	5	-	11
23.	Bottle gourd	14	7	-	21
24.	Sponge gourd	10	3	-	13
25.	Ash gourd	6	2	-	8
26.	Long melon	1	-	-	1
27.	Round melon	1	-	-	1
28.	Mustard green	1	-	-	1
29.	Radish	2	-	-	2
30.	Yard long Bean	1	-	-	1
31.	Amaranths	2	-	-	2
Total		352	186	59	597

Staffs working at PC Cell, ICAR-IIVR, Varanasi

1.	Dr. Rajesh Kumar	Director and Project Coordinator
2.	Dr. Tribhuvan Chaubey	Principal Scientist (Seed Technology) and I/c PC Cell
3.	Dr. Hiranmoy Das	Senior Scientist (Agricultural Statistics)
4.	Shri. Ashutosh Goswami	Chief Technical Officer
5.	Shri. Satya Prakash Mishra	Multi-Tasking Staff

Contact Information

Dr. Rajesh Kumar
The Director and Project Coordinator
AICRP on Vegetable Crops
ICAR-Indian Institute of Vegetable Research
P.O.-Jakhini (Shahanshapur), Varanasi-221305 (U.P.)

Email: pcaicrpveg@gmail.com