Karnataka To Set Up Floriculture Board

Karnataka is set to become the first state in the country to bunch growers, exporters and buyers in the floriculture industry under one wing by shortly setting up a state umbrella body to be styled as the Floriculture Board.

A bill to the effect is now being finalised by a drafting committee under the directorate of horticulture and is in the process of being sent for the approval of the state government, which had identified the floriculture industry as one of the potential growth areas in its Ninth Plan period.

The Floriculture Board is expected to bring corporates, small growers, exporters and government officials in the floriculture industry under one umbrella.

 

At present, around 25 floriculture export oriented units (EOU) involved in rose cut-flower production, covering over 50 hectares, have sprouted up across the state, mainly in and around Bangalore.

During the ninth plan period, the industry, which is growing at the rate of 11 per cent annually, is expected to add 40 more hectares under EOU cultivation.A flower auction centre has been operational since October, 1995, to help exporters and to bring novel export flower varieties into the domestic market.

The Indian governments nodal agency APEDA has also been making concerted efforts to flag off a chain of international flower auction houses and polish up infrastructure facilities like a cold storage at the Bangalore airport.The state government has realised that these isolated efforts need to be brought under a single window agency, said a government official in the horticulture department.

The proposed bill, titled the Karnataka Floriculture Board Act, 1997, will provide for the formation of a Board for promoting floriculture exports and controlling the industry, including domestic growers. The Board will comprise of 20 members drawn from various sections of the industry like growers, exporters, the state agro industries corporation, the University of Agricultural Sciences.

It will also have two members from the legislature, two each from the agriculture and horticulture department., and the commerce and industries department.

The Board is expected to, within three months of its formulation, streamline the industry by demanding a license and registration from flower growers. In addition, to ensure that minimum standards are adhered to, floriculture exporters in imitation of their cousins in the coffee business, will have to acquire an export certificate from the Board. The Board will involve itself in export promotion programmes and assist in collecting statistics and in R&D to improve grading and packaging technology.

The important commercial flowers grown in Karnataka are rose, chrysanthemum, tuberose, jasmine and marigold.