Floriculture On The Bloom In Karnataka

Floriculture in Karnataka is growing by leaps and bounds with Rs 7.5 crore worth flowers are expected to be auctioned this year.

"We are a growing industry. In 1997-98, value of flowers auctioned was Rs 19.63 lakh. In the next year it grew to Rs 78.29 lakh and in 1999-2000 it was Rs 2.05 crore.

If we go by the value that has already been auctioned in 2000,

total value of flowers will be Rs 7.5 crore," said Karnataka Agro Industries Corporation Ltd., Special Officer Floriculture division, T V Reddy.

"As of now, KAC is not under any sort of debt and Rs 700 crore worth interest has been waived off as the government cleared all its bills at one go. In the past two three years we have developed our own technology and except for patented plants the growers need not import anything."

India's share in the world floriculture export is about one per cent of the world market at present.

"But the industry has a tremendous growth potential. The climate especially in and around Bangalore is ideal for flowers. While other countries need artificial cooling in summer and artificial heating in winter and therefore have a high cost of production, we need none of that. Take for example Delhi. The cost of producing a rose there would be six rupees and we in Bangalore hardly spend one rupee," Reddy said.

"It is only our fault that we are not doing as well we can. The major problem is of quality. The first export samples that Indian growers send are excellent."

"And then when the time comes to export, they will send 10 lots of flowers in the total say 10 million thinking that no body will bother. But the quality parameters abroad are so high that the whole 10 million gets rejected for the bad 10 lots," he said.

Bangalore contributes 60 per cent on India's domestic floriculture trade. In the auction house, three to four batches of auction are held every day with over 20 bidders attending regularly. Of these 20 bidders, 5 or 6 are really big.

Even now, in the month of May, which is the off season, they buy flowers worth Rs 20,000 to Rs 30, 000 daily. And in the season they buy about Rs 50,000 worth flowers every day.

The auction was started in 1995 when it was done three days a week. But as growers started to come in with their produce, the bidders found it easy to procure flowers and auction was called seven days a week.

From calling the bid manually, this auction house now has a digital system for bidding and the bidders can buzz their bid.

Bangalore may soon get a whole new flower auction center of international standards in Hebbal.

A team from the Karnataka Agro Industries Corporation Ltd, Floriculture department is leaving for Delhi on Monday to present a proposal to the commerce ministry.