Surinder Sud: Seeding floriculture

Realising the sector's potential requires some hard work

Thanks to the growing trend of greeting people with flowers, the demand for cut flowers has shot up and, in turn, has imparted a dynamism to floriculture that was unimaginable till the early 1990s. Consequently, growing flowers is no longer confined to gardens and backyards — it is today a thriving commercial activity.

Though precise data is difficult to come by, horticulture experts believe the floriculture industry has been growing at by well over 10 per cent per annum for over a decade now. Apart from meeting the local demand fully, the industry is making its presence felt in the global flower bazaar as well. Indian flowers are exported to Holland, the world’s largest flower mandi, for re-export to different destinations. In fact, traditional global hubs of floriculture have shifted from Holland, the US and Japan to Asia, Latin America and Africa. India is the world’s second-largest producer of flowers, after China. It also has the world’s fastest-growing local market.

 

According to Dr H P Singh, deputy director-general (horticulture) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, the sales of floriculture in the current year could touch Rs 1,000 crore. The key markets for flowers include Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Chandigarh.

Several states have emerged as major flower-producing zones. These include Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and New Delhi. While Tamil Nadu has the highest acreage under flowers, Bihar has the highest productivity (it is a small producer though), followed by Haryana. But many other states, notably the southern ones, excel in the production of high-quality flowers which are in greater demand in the domestic and export markets.

Singh is confident that the sector will grow faster due to the setting up of agri-export zones (AEZs) dedicated to floriculture. This and the sops offered by the government to this activity will ensure a gradual improvement in logistics support to the flower trade and exports. AEZs have come up in Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Cold stores and cargo handling facilities have been created at some major airports like the ones at New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram and Cochin to handle perishable items like flowers. Besides, modern flower auction floors are also coming up at key marketing centres like Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai and Noida.

However, the fresh flower trade constitutes only one aspect of the overall floriculture sector. There are other equally, if not more, important segments of this sector which are doing well and have the potential to grow. Notable among them are the production and marketing of dry flowers and the production of high-value oil extracts and perfumes, including traditional Indian ittars, dyes and other products, such as rose water and gulkand. Dry flowers already form a sizeable chunk of Indian floriculture exports. But, unfortunately, the dry-flower industry is not well organised and relies, to a substantial extent, on gathering of flowers from the wild and drying them using conventional methods. However, some fresh flowers are also converted to dry flowers for better returns. These include dahlias, marigold, jute flowers, wood roses, lotus pods and lilies among others.

Flower extracts offer another great opportunity for value-addition and enhancing of returns as these enjoy a good domestic as well as export market. The cultivation of the Damask rose owes its popularity largely to its demand for extraction of oil and preparation of rose water and gulkand. Products made of jasmine, tuberose and vanilla find a ready market in the cosmetics industry.

Several flowers, like marigold, have good use in the production of natural dyes, the demand for which is swelling rapidly due to growing preference for natural products. In fact, the pigment produced from marigold has found a new use in the poultry industry, where it is fed to chickens to impart a tempting colour to their meat and egg yolk.

However, much still needs to be done to realise the full potential of this sector which, some believe, is almost unlimited. The availability of a wide range of good quality seeding material, for instance, needs to grow in tandem with the expansion of the floriculture industry.

surinder.sud@gmail.com