Floriculture can flower more

Commercial cultivation of flowers and ornamental plants, or floriculture, which has been accorded “export-oriented sector” status by the government, is far more lucrative than normal crop farming. The net profit from growing flowers, on per unit of land, can be 10 to 20 times higher than from most field crops. But it is a highly investment- and technology-intensive activity that needs, preferably, to be carried out under controlled environmental conditions in greenhouses. Some flowers, such as marigold, rose, chrysanthemum, gaillardia, lily, aster, and tuberose, can be farmed commercially even in open fields but that also requires specialised skills to get optimal yields.

Growth in industrial demand for floricultural produce for making perfumes, natural colours, Ayurvedic drugs, and traditional products like “gulkand” (sweetened preserve of rose petals) and “sharbats” (beverages), has lent a further impetus to flower cultivation. This sector now accounts for nearly 2 per cent of the country’s value of the crops sector.

India, despite being virtually a debutante in the field of commercial production and export of flowers and their value-added products, exported about 23,597 tonnes of floricultural items, worth around Rs 770 crore, in 2021-22. The export destinations included developed countries like the US, Canada, Germany, the UK, the UAE, and, most importantly, the Netherlands, which is the world’s biggest flower market and auction centre for international trade.

India is estimated to have produced close to three million tonnes of flowers from just around 320,000 hectares in 2020-21. The size of the country’s flower market, reckoned by industry circles at around Rs 20,700 crore in 2021, is anticipated to surge to over Rs 42,500 crore in the next five years, clocking a robust compound annual growth rate of 13-14 per cent. The produce of this sunrise sector consists of a variety of products, such as loose flowers (for garlands and ornamentation), cut-flowers (with part of stem for making bouquets), potted plants, foliage, bulbs, tubers, rooted cuttings and dried or dehydrated flowers, and decorative leaves. The range of cultivated flowers, which was limited initially to chiefly roses, marigold, aster, gladiolus, chrysanthemum, and the like, has since expanded to include carnation, gerbera, gypsophila, liatris, nerine, archilea, anthurium, tulip, lilies and many types of orchids. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal have emerged as major flower-producing states.

The growing trend of “say it with flowers” on birthdays, marriage and other anniversaries, and welcome and farewell functions, as also the observance of hitherto non-traditional occasions like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and similar other events, has given a further fillip to the domestic demand for flowers, especially the cut-flowers. Metropolitan and big towns have become major flower consumption centres. However, the demand for loose flowers, used for garland-making and decoration on social and religious occasions, still dominates the domestic market, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of the total flower sales.

The turning point in commercial flower farming on scientific lines was, indeed, the promulgation of the New Seed Policy in 1988, which allowed the import of planting material for flowers conforming to global quality standards. The liberalisation of the economy in the early 1990s provided the much-needed export window for flowers and their value-enhanced products, thereby paving the way for investment in setting up export-oriented hi-tech floriculture units. These moves also helped improve the productivity of flowering crops and farmers’ income. Integration of flower farming with bee-keeping can help further improve the profitability of the floriculture units.

Interestingly, systematic research and development in flower breeding began much earlier than that in the improvement of staple cereals, which brought about the Green Revolution. A large number of new variants of flowers having a unique colour, shape or size of petals and other visually aesthetic attributes were produced before the evolution of the high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice, which provided the breakthrough in foodgrain production. Roses were the first to get flower breeders’ attention. It was indeed the availability of a vast assortment of rose varieties that spurred the establishment of rose gardens in various parts of the country. Many other flower-specific gardens later came up in many places, the most notable among them being the sprawling tulip garden near Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, which has become a major tourist attraction. Botanical gardens have also contributed to the breeding and preservation of new varieties of flowers.

However, regardless of these developments, the country’s floriculture potential is still grossly underexploited. Many indigenous flowers, which can command a good market abroad because of their uniqueness, remain unspotted and under-promoted. Orchids can be a case in point. India is fortunate to have the world’s richest orchid habitats in the Northeastern region and the Western and Eastern Ghats. They harbour over 1,000 species of these distinguished flowers. Though some headway has been made in exporting orchids, especially from Sikkim, the export potential of other hotspots of orchids remains under-tapped.

surinder.sud@gmail.com