Valentine's Day boost for Hosur roses

Exports of cut roses from Hosur, a major industrial town in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu, is likely to touch Rs 100 crore in the next five years from the present Rs 30 crore.

To tap the growing export market, state-run Tanflora Infrastructure Park Limited, an agri export zone for roses in Hosur, is expanding and planning to launch more Indian branded roses.

Najeeb Ahmed, managing director, Tanflora, said export from the zone for the Valentine’s Day alone increased to three million in 2008 from one million in 2007. This Valentine’s Day, Ahmed expects rose exports to touch 5 million and 8 million for the 2010 Valentine’s Day.

The company on Wednesday launched its brand Kohinoor. Last year, it launched the Taj Mahal brand and has set a target to export one million roses under this brand for the 2009 Valentine’s Day.

Tanflora’s rose park is spread over 100 hectare (ha). The company currently produces around 30 million roses annually under 36 hectares of green house. The area under cultivation would reach its full capacity of 54 hectare with a production of 70 million rose stems by next year.

Ahmed said Tanflora was expecting to close the current fiscal with revenues of about Rs 16 crore compared with Rs 8 crore in 2007-08, an increase of over 80 per cent.

The Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (Tidco) has a 50 per cent share in the park while MNA Associates, a private promoter, holds the rest.

Tidco chairman S Ramasundaram said the government was also planning to allocate an additional 125 acre to the company.

Tanflora exports flowers to the US, Europe, Japan, Australia, West Asia and Far East countries. It has also tied up with an Australian super market to supply bouquets and is currently in talks with super market chains in the UK.

Meanwhile, the state administration is also encouraging farmers in Krishnagiri district to cultivate roses. “The Small Farmers Agri Business Consortium, with over 1,200 members, is currently cultivating around 100,000 roses every year for the domestic market. To encourage these farmers, the local administration had introduced a subsidy scheme last year through which it gave around Rs 6 crore. This year, the government had set a target of Rs 8 crore,” R Prabhakaran, deputy director, horticulture department, told Business Standard.

With these subsidies, the farmers would be able to look at the export market. Over the next two years, farmers in the region alone have set a target to cultivate 1250,000 roses. The production cost of a rose is Rs 2, while the farmer sells it for Rs 4 to 4.5, he said.