Ashok Gupta
Government of India has identified Floriculture as a sunrise industry and accorded it as 100% export oriented status.Owing to steady increase in demand of flowers.Floriculture has become one of the important commercial trade in Agriculture.Commercial floriculture has emerged as hi-tech activity taking place under controlled climatic conditions.The liberalised economy has given an impetus to the Indian entrepreneurs for establishing export oriented floriculture units under controlled climatic conditions and J&K State should come forward to take a lead in this field.
Jammu & Kashmir as a part of India has special status and have the privilege os separate department of floriculture.Floriculture in J&K has the additional advantage as non other state has the privilege of separate department and special funds for the promotion of Floriculture.
Floriculture products mainly consists of cut-flowers,pot plants,cut- foliage,seeds,bulbs,tubers and dried flowers or leaves.The important floricultural crops in the national and international trade are Rose,Carnation,Chrysanthemum,Xerbera,Gladiolus.Floriculture crops like Xerbera,Roses,Carnation,Chrysanthemum etc are grown in Green houses.
The open field crops like chrysanthemum Marigold and tuberose etc.
Jammu and Kashmir has suitable agro-climatic conditions for a variety of flowers.The floriculture industry in the state offers a good source of supply to the domestic and international market.There is potential for this activity to be propagated on commercial basis
Some of the options a flower grower or floriculturist can take up in future.
NURSERY INDUSTRY: Lack of quality planting material,policy should be made to raise good quality material and its further distribution to the farmers.Tissue culture laboratory can be established in our state.
HIGH-TECH/PROTECTED CULTIVATION: J&K has several advantages and great potential to increase the area in value added crops.Provided they are located in ideal locations with sound technological back up.
ESSENTIAL OILS: Production of essential oils by growing variety of rose,tuberose,jasmine with higher oil content and standardising distillation methods.
DRY FLOWERS: At present dry flowers constitute two third of floriculture export and Jammu and kashmir can contribute a lot in this.
POT POURI: Pot pouri is a mixture of dried,sweet scented plant parts including flower leaves,seed.stem and roots.The basis of Pot pouri is the aromatic oils found with in the plants.
NATURAL DYES: Marigold pigments are widely used in the poltry industry to enhance the colour of meat and yolk of the eggs and also used in food and textile industry.
The floricultural as industry has an immense Potential for employment generation and earning a foreign exchange.
Jammu is emerging as a significant player of this blooming industry in the nation.However the growers are not able to identify the most appropriate channels for marketing their products in the national and international market and depends in the intermediaries.Besides forming a growth oriented policy in floriculture industry equal attention is to be paid to market the produce also by providing marketing Centre near the are of operation .This has happened first time in the History of floriculture in Jammu and Kashmir that flowers grown in Jammu were used in decoration of Oath taking ceremony of Jammu and Kashmir Govt. in Zorawar Auditorium attended by Prime Minister of India also.This shows Jammu is producing good quality flowers and has the potential to boost growth.
(The author is Deputy Director Department of Flouriculture)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
