Floriculture boosting State Economy and employment :

• With the recent announcement of the new hill industrial policy, the Uttarakhand government is now focusing on the floriculture sector with a hope of robust growth in future to help boost the state's economy and increase employment opportunities.
• With more than 100 new units being set up in the floriculture sector during the past three years, the government has now set a target to grow 900 metric tonnes of flowers by the end of this year. Uttarakhand presently produces 850 metric tonnes of flowers with 750 hectares of land under this cultivation.
• The government has brought floriculture as the thrust area under the new industrial policy and is looking for Rs 200 crore of investment in the next three years in this sector.
• During the past three to four years, the government had launched various initiatives, including subsidy, to boost the growth of this sector by adding new varieties of flowers, which include gerbera, orchid, carnation and gladiolus. Following these efforts, Uttarakhand is now contributing 8 to 10 per cent of the flowers to the Delhi market.
• Lately, several farmers have shifted from cereal crops to floriculture in the state, experts say. Presently, the total trade turnover of cut flowers from Uttarakhand is approximately Rs 25 crore and total investment in flower industry is over Rs 50 crore.
• Several new entrepreneurs in the sector are now flourishing. Singh cited the example of Vishal Khanna, an entrepreneur in Padampuri area of Nainital district where he set up an orchid unit with an investment of Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 crore and said his business is growing gradually.
• According to a rough estimate, nearly 4,000 to 5,000 farmers are presently working in the floriculture sector. Recently, a new association under the aegis of Flowers Growers Society, Kashipur, has been launched which also sent an export consignment of flowers to Holland. It also claimed that entrepreneurs in the Terai area of Uttarakhand, which include Kashipur, Ramnagar, Jaspur, have invested nearly Rs 20 crore in the sector.
• Flower varieties like gerbera, gladiolus, carnation can be grown in the plains while in the hills roses can be produced at a height between 2,000 to 3,000 feet in the hills. Above 3,000 feet, flowers like lilium and tulip are advisable.

Josimath becoming floriculture hub :

The hill resort of Joshimath is not very far from the Valley of Flowers, a world heritage site in the Garhwal Himalayas. This is perhaps one reason why both the areas, which fall under the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, have developed a unique similarity of bedding exotic flowers.

Situated at a height of 7,000 feet above sea level, Joshimath is the place where all families of roses are cultivated because of favourable climatic conditions. The state government is now all set to develop this flower bed at Joshimath, the wintry sojourn of the Badrinath shrine. This move will also open up newer opportunities of entrepreneurships for the locals who are mostly tribal farmers growing vegetables and apples.

According to a survey conducted by the state-run Centre for Aromatic Plants (CAP) in Dehradun,roses were found to be grown aplenty in every nook and corner here.

Efforts of State government :

• For boosting the floriculture business, the state government has planned to rope in private companies to give fresh impetus to the production of various flowers. An investment of Rs 200 crore is expected in the floriculture sector, said top officials.
• The state government has signed an MOU with Indo Dutch Technologies Pvt Ltd for the development of special infrastructure facilities and floriculture planting material. This will foster the promotion of export quality flowers from the state.
• With the spread of commercial floriculture activity in India, many nurseries have come up in the market with planting material of different floriculture crops. But the available planting material is not genuine, is infected and of inferior quality.
• Apart from this most small growers due to their scale of operations did not have access to the new improved varieties, which were imported to the country in recent years. It’s clear that the unavailability of good quality planting material has been the major roadblock in floriculture promotion until now.

Government of India has identified floriculture as a sunrise industry and accorded it 100% export oriented status. Owing to steady increase in demand of flower floriculture has become one of the important Commercial trades in Agriculture. Hence commercial floriculture has emerged as hi-tech activity-taking place under controlled climatic conditions inside greenhouse. Floriculture in India, is being viewed as a high growth Industry. Commercial floriculture is becoming important from the export angle.

The liberalization of industrial and trade policies paved the way for development of export-oriented production of cut flowers. The new seed policy had already made it feasible to import planting material of international varieties. It has been found that commercial floriculture has higher potential per unit area than most of the field crops and is therefore a lucrative business. Indian floriculture industry has been shifting from traditional flowers to cut flowers for export purposes. The liberalized economy has given an impetus to the Indian entrepreneurs for establishing export oriented floriculture units under controlled climatic conditions.

Officials of the Horticulture development department of the state government and botanical experts say that the future of the floriculture is bright in the zone. According to the agriculture specialists, cultivators' venturing in floriculture is a welcome trend in the hill state.