Problems and prospects of floriculture in Manipur

U Chaoba Singh *

Problems and prospects of floriculture in Manipur :: Pix - TSE

INTRODUCTION

Flowers are important for offering to the family deity every morning by a devoted Hindu, in marriage ceremonies as garlands, bouquets; in social gatherings, birthday parties, honouring dignitaries as garland, bouquets, flower arrangement.

The arrival of new born is rejoiced with flowers, the dead are bidden farewell with flowers. Ornamental plants are important for decorating indoor rooms of houses, hotels, offices, cinema halls, hospitals, in beautifying home compounds, parks, gardens, offices, airports, cities, villages, schools, hospitals, colleges compounds, avenues etc.

FLORICULTURE INDUSTRY

The floriculture industry comprises production and marketing of cut flowers, cut foliage, loose flowers, potted plants, dried flowers, floristry items like bouquets, flower baskets, flower arrangements etc, ornamental plant nurseries, tissue cultured plants, flower seed production, extraction of essential oils and efforts for improving environmental through landscaping and bio-aesthetic planning.

Based on these industries some supporting industries are also developed like industries producing packaging materials, industries producing greenhouse construction materials and transport agency which supply the refrigerated van for shipment of materials from the farm to the airport, railway station etc.

INTERNATIONAL SCENARIO AND TRADE

The international floriculture market trade was estimated to be 50 billion US dollar in 1995 of which cut flowers accounts for 31 billion US dollar (De Groot 1998). Top 10 cut flowers in the international trade in descending orders are Rose, Chrysanthemum, Carnation, Tulip, Freesia, Gerbera, Lily, Cymbidium, Gypsophila and Iris.

Floriculture export by 2005 was estimated to be 13.5 billion US dollar. In case of fresh cut flower export value was 5.1 billion US dollar. The Netherlands hold first place in this trade with almost 50% share. Other countries which make up the top 15 countries in descending order are Colombia, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ecuador, Canada, Israel, Spain, France, Costa Rica, Poland and Thailand.

Amongst these the fastest growing exporters have been Poland and Thailand. The other countries including developing ones have only 20% of the total export, India’s share being less than 1%.

In the case of dried cut flowers the top 5 exporters are the Netherlands followed by Malaysia and India and then Columbia and Belgium. The Netherlands is also the largest exporter of live plants, cuttings, bulbs and nursery stocks (85% share of world export).

Germany followed by the USA and the UK are the top three importers for all the floriculture products that is, cut flowers, foliage, bulbs and tubers, live plants accounting for 18% and 12% each respectively of global purchases. While the European consumers showed growth in imports in the range of 8% to 14% between 2001 and 2005, Russia led the way ahead with a 35% growth during this period making it the fastest growing importers.

The leading gateway for global floriculture trade even today is undoubtedly the Netherlands. However, several developing countries are emerging as major forces in the global floriculture trade such as Colombia, Ecuador, Kenya, India, Malaysia, China and South Africa. Colombia and Ecuador represent the more diversified structure. Kenya is more on a focused product (fresh flowers-roses).

THE INDIAN SCENARIO AND TRADE

With growing urbanization and cosmopolitan life styles, flowers are being increasingly used for decorating homes and institutions. Personal, institutional and corporate demand for cut flowers is a growing segment in the changing Indian floriculture business. Floriculture in India too is fuelled by strong domestic demand for both loose and cut flowers as well.

According to Indian Horticulture Data Base 2008 area under floriculture during 2007-08 was 160.72 thousand ha with a production of 43417. 46 lakh numbers of cut flowers and 870.37 thousand tons of loose flowers. The major flower growing States are West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.

Flowers are mostly grown under open cultivation and about 500 hectares of land are under protected cultivation predominantly for export. In the polyhouses mainly roses are grown for export. Other exotic flowers like carnation, orchids, lilium and other bulbous flowers and gerbera are now increasingly produced commercially both for export and domestic markets.

India’s export of floriculture has been increased from Rs. 340.14 crore in 2007-08 to Rs. 368.81 crore in 2008-09. The main importing countries of Indian floriculture products were the Netherlands, US, Japan, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Egypt, Singapore, Switzerland, France, Australia, UAE, Belgium and Sri Lanka.

The floriculture Industry in India comprises

1. Cut flowers – Important cut-flowers are Rose, Carnation, Anthurium, Gerbera, Orchid, Lilium, Chrysanthemum, Tulip and Gladiolus etc.

2. Cut Foliage – Important cut foliage crops are Asparagus, Cordylineterminalis, Nephrolepsisexaltata, Euonymous, Hedera helix, Dracaena, Calathea, Begonia, Saintpaulia, Poinsettia, Diffenbachia, Raphis excels, Schefflera etc.

3. Loose Flowers—Important loose flowers are jasmine, marigold, tuberose, red fragrant roses, annual chrysanthemum, crossandra, barleria, balsam, China aster, chandni, champa, butterfly pea, ixora and hibiscus.

4. Extraction of essential oils – extraction of essential oils from flowers is another focus segment in Indian flori-trade. The major products are jasmine concrete, rose oil, rose water and gulkand. Oils extraction from tuber


For further details contact: -
Public Relations& Media Management Cell,
CAU, Imphal.
Email: [email protected]