Dr. Manoj Nazir
Floriculture could be considered as the most colourful sector of horticulture, which includes flowers, foliage, potted plants, ornamentals and greens. With urbanization and increase in disposable income level, the demand for floriculture products has increased significantly. As a result, there has been an increasing demand for cut flowers like rose, gladiolus, carnation, orchid, gerbera, lilium etc. There is a equally good demand for the traditional flowers like jasmine, marigold, chrysanthemum, tuberose etc. This has led to the transformation of floriculture sector from household activity to a commercial venture.
The total world area under floriculture is 6,20,000 hectares among which Asia -Pacific occupies 4,53,000 ha (nearly 73 per cent of total). India occupies 51 per cent of area under floriculture in Asia – Pacific region. (AIPH / Union Fleurs International statistics flowers and plants 2013). World floriculture market is growing significantly at the rate of 10-15 per cent per annum, estimated to be worth over $17 billion (Floriculture Today). In this, fresh cut flowers and foliage contributes 49.1 per cent (US$ 83.1 billion) and live plants, bulbs and cuttings contribute to 50.9% (US$ 8.60 billion). Developed countries in Europe, America and Asia account for more than 90 per cent of the total world trade in floriculture products. Netherlands continues to dominate the world floriculture industry, accounting for 60 per cent (US$ 4.73 billion) of world floriculture exports in 2013. (COMTRADE, United Nations)
Major exporting countries of floricultural products are Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, USA. Major importing countries in floriculture are Germany, France, Netherlands, USA, United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Japan
In India area under cultivation of flower crops was 2,33,000 ha with a production of 76,732 lakh of cut flowers and 1.72 million tones of loose flowers in 2012-13. The country has exported 27,121 MT of floriculture products to the world to the worth of Rs. 423.44 crore during the year 2012-13. Major Export destinations (2012-13) were United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Netherland, and United Arab Emirates.
In India, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, West Bengal have emerged as major floriculture centers. West Bengal (33.1%), Karnataka (12.3%) and Maharashtra (10.3%) are leading cut flower production states. TamilNadu (18 %), Andhra Pradesh (12.98%) and Karnataka (12%) are major loose flower production states. (NHB data base – 2013). Jammu and Kashmir could play a vital role in this field
Floricultural exports from India comprises of fresh cut flowers to Europe, Japan, Australia, Middle East & USA, loose flowers to the Gulf, cut foliage to Europe, dry flowers to USA, Europe, Japan, Australia, Far East & Russia and potted plants limited to very few countries. Dry flower and ornamentals have great export and potentiality as nearly 70 per cent of total export of floricultural commodities from India consists of dried products.
The floriculture exports from India dropped marginally in value terms, due to local consumption of flowers growing at a phenomenal speed, high import tariff, low availability of dedicated perishable carriers, high freight rates. The industry is also faced by several challenges at the production level mostly related to availability of basic inputs, including seeds and planting materials, quality irrigation and skilled manpower, ageing plantations etc. At the marketing stage, major challenges faced by the Indian flower exporters are related to low level of product diversification and differentiation, lack of integration and innovation, low quality flowers and challenges associated with quality and environmental issues. Inadequate cold chain management is not only affecting the future floriculture trade in the country, but also having a negative impact on the present produce and on its marketability.
Strategies for improvement:
* The first and foremost requirement is to develop a Integrated Cold Chain for flowers right from the point-of-origin (growers) to the point-of-consumption (customers )
* Developing the non-traditional production areas may help in meeting the growing needs of both domestic and international market
* Develop and propagate varieties indigenously to ensure regular supply of quality inputs such as planting material
* Establish training centers and organize programmes for development of skilled manpower
* Establishing a network of support systems with the involvement of government, private sector and public institutions
* Government may enhance its efforts in negotiating preferential tariff regimes with countries to reduce import tariff
* Periodic re-plantation
* Shifting to Integrated Supply Chain Model i.e. integrating small and medium scale growers into large-scale producer supply chains, may help in attaining economies of scale in the industry
* Increasing the frequency of International flights and chartered flights besides, creating additional cargo space, specific to floriculture
A lot has been done but we have miles to go before we can boast of achievements in the floriculture sector. As of now, all we can affirm is that, slowly but steadily India is moving towards a color Revolution.
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