Wednesday, September 24, 2008

What is Floriculture and its scope


We all know ,Flowers play an essential role in people's celebrations and every day lives. Weddings, graduations, funerals, Mother's Day, St. Valentine's Day, Easter and Christmas. Being a nature lover , i would like to share some of the interesting facts about the floriculture through this blog, with a hope that the information provided will be useful for those who are thinking of starting a business in floriculture which has tremendous opportunities in the present scenerio. And promise to keep posting about this interesting subject in future also with some more interesting facts of this business

WHAT IS FLORICULTURE?
Floriculture is the growing of cut flowers, potted flowering and foliage plants, and bedding plants in greenhouses and/or in fields. There are several thousand different species of flowers and plants that are grown as commercial crops. Cut flowers include such crops as roses, freesia, alstromeria and snapdragons. Some of the favourite flowering potted plants that are available year-round are African violets, orchids, cyclamen and potmums (potted Chrysanthemums). Some seasonal flowering plants are an important part of our traditions, for example, poinsettias for Christmas and Easter lilies for Easter

HOW ARE FLORICULTURE PRODUCTS PRODUCED?
Growers who produce crops year-round rely on greenhouses to protect their crops Floriculture also involves a considerable amount of production that is not greenhouse based, such as field-grown specialty cut flowers. It includes such products as daffodils, tulips, gladiolus, snapdragons.

WHAT DO FLORICULTURE PRODUCTS LOOK LIKE WHEN I USE THEM?

Flowers play an essential role in people's celebrations and every day lives. Weddings, graduations, funerals, Mother's Day, St. Valentine's Day, Easter and Christmas are all peak periods of demand for flowers and plants. Cut flowers are combined into elaborate arrangements and bouquets, or several stems are packaged together for impulse cash-and-carry purchases. Flowering and foliage plants are combined together in baskets or planters, or sold individually with pot covers and sleeves to accent their beauty. Cut flowers, potted plants and bedding plants are available at florists, supermarkets, corner grocery stores, mass-market outlets and garden centers. More people are buying flowers at their supermarket as part of their weekly grocery shopping. Another shift in marketing is the move towards more direct farm marketing. Several growers have retail outlets on the farm where you can buy products such as longstem roses, potted orchids and bedding plants.

WHAT CHALLENGES DO FLORICULTURE PRODUCERS FACE?

Growers face many challenges including:

Declining margins - While prices have remained steady over the past several years, most input costs have risen steadily. To remain profitable, growers have had to become more efficient in production and management.
Environment - Environmental issues are a major concern for growers. Growers have responded by re-using irrigation water, reducing pesticide and fertilizer use and reducing greenhouse runoff.
Pest control - Concerns over pesticide use by the public and producers alike, along with pesticide resistance and the loss of approved pesticides, have prompted growers to adopt alternative pest control methods. Integrated pest management (IPM) is playing a larger role in greenhouse pest control. Many growers are now using biological or bio-rational control methods to supplement or replace existing pesticides.
Employment - Labour is an important element in production. Bedding plant and cut flower growers face labour costs of up to one third of gross sales. Although increased mechanization is a necessary element of global competition, the industry continues to be a major agricultural employer.
Urban-rural conflicts - Urban-rural conflicts are a fact of life for most agriculture in the Province. some municipalities look upon floriculture as more of a factory production industry rather than agriculture. Most municipalities have zoning regulations concerning the maximum site coverage for greenhouses.
Capital costs - Modern, state-of-the-art greenhouse operations can cost up to $200 per square metre. This represents a barrier to entry for many potential growers. Field-grown cut flowers and bedding plant production have much lower capital costs, so they are often entry level crops.
Seasonal demand - The demand for fresh floriculture products is seasonal and the product is very perishable. Large numbers of people want to buy flowers for special occasions or holidays like St. Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day and Christmas. Growers must time their production to meet these periods of high demand. Some growers have 30% of their annual sales in a three week period in spring.
WHO'S INVOLVED IN PRODUCING FLORICULTURE PRODUCTS?
Growers
Greenhouse and field employees
Wholesalers
Florists
Garden centres
Supermarkets
Corner stores
Mass-market outlets
Retail clerks

Interesting Fact About Floriculture:

Some of our important floriculture crops originate as weeds in other parts of the world. For example, gerberas (Transvaal Daisies) in South Africa and eustoma (Prairie Gentian) in Texas. Some countries grow dandelions commercially as a salad crop. Floriculture is a world-wide industry: the flowers you buy today could have been picked in South America, Europe or Israel two days ago. To compete with imports, local growers must be able to provide a fresh, high quality product for less money.
Floriculture in india

About two decades back or so, the floriculture was just a pastime of rich people and hobby of flower lovers, but now it has opened a new vista in agri-business i,e, commercial floriculture. With the increase in buying capacity of people, the flower lovers have now started buying them from the markets to beautify their home as well as to adore some one they love simply because they don't have time and enough space to grow flowers particularly in urban areas and in metropolitan cities. Flowers, it seems, is the most wanted item in any social occasions for conveying one's status and aesthetic sense. Flower is now so indispensable that one may cancel his her birthday celebration or Yama may postpone the death of a dying person in case flowers are not available at that time. No nuptial is performed and honeymoon of a young couple is not consummated till garden fresh rose and rajanigandha or tuberose with lingering and stupefying aroma are made available. Warm welcome cannot be offered to VIPs in the public functions without bouquet - flowers are so indispensable!
All these, no doubt, have set flower business on a top gear. One may wonder, the global market on flower is at present, carrying a business worth 2000 crores US dollar (1992) par annum. India is also having a business worth R.280 crores in her domestic market (1992-93).

Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) conducted a survey of assessment on the possibilities of cut flowers trade in India during 1960-62. An important conclusion was that an internal sale as RS.9.26 Crores worth flower weighing 10,460 tones grown in an area of 4000 hector. Flowers like Rose, Gladiolus, Tuberose, Chrysanthemum, Aster, Carnation, Orchids, Marigold are most popular in cut flower market all over the World.

State Area (ha.)

Karnataka 19,161
Tamil Nadu 14,194
West Bengal 12,285
Andhra Pradesh 5,933
Maharashtra 3,356
Rajasthan 1,985
Delhi 1,878 Haryana 1,540
Madhya Pradesh 1,270
Uttar Pradesh 1,000
Others 2,166
Total 64,768

FLOWER TRADE ACROSS THE WORLD:

World trade on floriculture produces like cut flowers, ornamental plants, flowering plants, flower seeds and plantlets gaining tremendous momentum. Many countries, particularly the developed ones, are importing flowers to meet their internal demand. It will be worthwhile to mention that the annual import figures of some of the largest importers on flowers - USA ( 232 crores US dollar) Japan ( 192 crores US $ ), Germany ( 180 crores US $) France (77 Crores Us Dollar) , Italy (55.6 Crores US Dollar), Holland (50 Crores US Dollar). The other importers like Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Middle-east countries etc. also import a sizable amount of cut flowers. In recent past, Israel has come up as the biggest grower of flowers, using modern agro-techniques like glass-house culture, drip irrigation, liquid pesticides & fertilisers application along with drip irrigation channels, Tissue Culture. It may be mentioned that the roses of Israel adjudged to be the best in the World. via-a-vis such a huge market potential of floriculture produce, India's contribution is not at all encouraging as its flower export amount to 30 lakh us dollar only, hence India has to do a lot to exploit this agro-business.

EXPORT OPPORTUNITY FOR INDIA - A REPORT OF A TRADE DELEGATION

A trade delegation for floriculture produces visited USSR, Holland, West Germany, USA during 1980. The delegation had highlighted the following points. .
The import to these countries will be mainly during winter season i.e. between November-March when agro-climatic conditions are not suitable for the plants.
Import of flowers grown under Glass-house conditions will be preferred for their uniformity in quality.
The ornamental flowers which have been highlighted for export from India to these countries include Gladioli, Roses of specific varieties, Chrysanthemum, Carnation orchids etc.
With the varied agro-climatic conditions of the country, no doubt, we have got good scope for the development of ornamental flowers like Rose, Gladioli, Tube rose etc. But, for all these we have to develop package of practices and post-harvest technologies so that their quick dispatch to foreign markets will be ensured. The foreign markets will however depend much on the quality of the produces.

15 comments:

REKH MANI SHARMA said...

Is it research work? can you provide any research article in my malil- rekhmani.sharma@gmail.com
I liked your effort.

Esy jaya said...

most of the profit ear by intermediates. grower cant get more profit. More info about flowers http://goo.gl/gJ5EaX

Unknown said...

can u provide me some opinion regarding to flowers as well regarding to landscaping elements in high altitude regions??????

Unknown said...

What an insightful article....! Can we use this data?

Unknown said...

Finally I found something useful to me. I have been looking for information on this particular topic for a lot of time now. I can't believe it is this difficult to find something on the Internet like this. I must be looking for the wrong thing or I don't know how to use Google. Anyway, thanks a lot for making this post available to us.http://www.floristhff.com

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

As I am doing a Research Project on "Empowerment of Women through Floriculture Industry : A case study of women flower seller of Mumbai & Thane city,and now find some useful information on it... So , Can u please mail me some information regarding my project on chauhan.bhagya@gmail.com.
Thank You.

Unknown said...

I want to do cultivation in floriculture in tripura,but it is also for commercial.but before investment a proper idea is needed in these sector.like future,profit etc.my email I'd is shubhankardeb100@yahoo.in

Unknown said...

i want to do floriculture in jaipur,rajasthan for commercial purpose. i also need proper idea in these sector like profit,laboureres required,how much land is required,gov.loan etc.please email me at dimpledasot@gmail.com

Flores said...

Nice post about floriculture!

Unknown said...

Very good post.Thanks.

Flower king said...

Good enough as a business and cheering work

Arjun said...

This is the good info blog post about floriculture in India India Flower Mall

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