Profile of the Floriculture Scenario

7/27/2019 Profile of the Floriculture Scenario

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Development of Floriculture

INFRASTRUCTURAL SUPPORT

Floriculture Nurseries:The Department of Horticulture has established seven Floriculture Nurseries invarious Districts, viz., Navbahar and Chhrabra in Shimla District, Mahog Bag andParwanoo in Solan District, Bajaura in Kullu District and Dharamshala and Bhatoon

in Kangra District.

Model Floriculture Centre:

The Model Floriculture Centre has been established at Mahog Bag (Chail), DistrictSolan and a Tissue Culture Laboratory is being set up for the propagation of plantingmaterial of commercially important floriculture crops. The present infrastructure atthe Model Floriculture Centre consists of 1706.5 sq. m of Greenhouse area, oneHandling Unit for post harvest handling of flowers and 3 Nos. of Cool Chambers forforcing and storage of planting material. The building, which shall house the TissueCulture Laboratory, Training Hall and other infrastructure of the Centre, has been

constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 94.22 lakhs and taken over by theDepartment of Horticulture in July 2004.

Post-harvest Infrastructure:Collection, Grading & Packing House and cool chamber facilities have beenestablished by the District Rural Development Agency for post-harvest managementof floriculture produce in the districts of Bilaspur, Mandi and Kangra.

Research & Development:The following organizations provide the necessary R&D support in the field offloriculture: -

1. Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture & Forestry, Solan. ThisUniversity has a separate Department of Floriculture & Landscaping as itshead quarters at Nauni. The location specific research work is beingcarried out at the regional Research stations of the university located invarious Agro climatic Zones of the State.

2. Institute of Himalayan Bio-resource Technology, Palampur, District Kangra.3. ICAR Research Station at Katrain District Kullu H.P.4. National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Phagli, Shimla, H.P.

SCHEMESCENTRAL AND STATE FOR FLORICULTURE

Financial Incentives:

1.Horticulture Technology Missiona. Area Expansion: Financial assistance at the rate of 50% on

production inputs is available to the individual growers for a unit of 0.2Hectares with a ceiling of Rs. 13,000/-.b. Creation of water sources: Rs. 1 lakh for providing irrigation to 1

hectare area (water holding capacity of 3 lakh litres) subject to amaximum ceiling of Rs. 10 lakhs for providing irrigation to 10hectare area.


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c. On farm water management:(i) Assistance for drip irrigation @ 50% of the cost with a

maximum ceiling of Rs. 28,500/- per hectare.(ii) Assistance for sprinkler irrigation @ 50% of the cost with a

maximum ceiling of Rs. 15,000/- per hectare for small,marginal, SC, ST and women farmers and @ 33% of costsubject to a maximum of Rs. 10,000/- for other categoryfarmers.

(i) Assistance for Plastic Mulching @ 50% of the cost of plasticfilm subject to a ceiling of Rs. 7,000/- per hectare.(ii) Greenhouses: A farmer can avail assistance @ 50% of cost

for covering up to 1000 sq. m. (@Rs. 325/ sq. m. for hi techand Rs. 125/ sq. m. for normal greenhouses.

(iii) Low Tunnels: Assistance is provided @ 50% of the cost or Rs.5 per sq. m., whichever is lower for a maximum area of 1 hectare.

(iv) Shadenet Houses: Assistance is applicable only for theshade nets (without structure) @ Rs. 14 per sq.m or 50% ofthe cost, whichever is lower for a maximum area of 500 sq.m. per beneficiary.

d.Transfer of Technology:(i) Training of farmers within the State: Rs. 1500 per farmer for7 days.(ii) Training of farmers outside the State: Rs. 2500 per farmer for7 days.

Technical Assistance:1. Training in Floriculture: The Department of Horticulture organizes short

duration training Programs for the training of farmers for floriculture.2. Organization of Study Tours: Study Tours for flower growers from

Himachal Pradesh are arranged to the developed flower growing areas in thecountry and flower markets to create awareness amongst them regarding thenew trends/technologies in floriculture.3. Advisory Service: Free technical advice is made available from the

Department of Horticulture to the entrepreneurs and practicingfloriculturists in pre and post-harvest technologies of floriculture crops.

4. Literature for Floriculture: Literature handouts containing technicalinformation pertaining to cultivation of floriculture crops are supplied free of

cost to the interested flower growers for their guidance.5. Organization of Flower Shows: The Department of Horticulture provides

assistance for the organization of flower shows to create awareness on theusage of floriculture produce both indoors and outdoors.6. Formation of Flower Growers Co-operative Societies: The Department

of Horticulture provides assistance to the flower growers for the formation offlower growers co-operative Societies to enable them to organize themselves on aco-operative basis.7. Assistance from other Organizations: The Department of Horticulture

helps the flower grower co-operatives and other organizations to obtainassistance for the establishment of post-harvest management facilitiesavailable from organizations like National Horticulture Board, APEDA andNABARD.


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SCENARIO

The existing status of floriculture industry in Himachal Pradesh exhibits a scenario ofstrengths, weaknesses, opportunities and risks (threats), in view of the changes thatare rapidly taking place in the field of production technologies and marketingopportunities.

Strengths:

The most important strengths of the flower industry in Himachal Pradesh are asfollows:1. Comparative advantage of the production of almost all kinds of floriculture

crops - Temperate to Sub Tropical, due to diverse agro-climatic conditionsavailable in the State.

2. Comparative advantage in the production of floriculture crops for off-season marketing due to cooler climate.

3. Vast market for the flowers.4. Fairly well developed institutional framework for the development of

floriculture in the form of research, extension, credit, marketing,processing and communication infrastructure.

5. Nearness to the main distributing wholesale market at Delhi.Weaknesses:1. Lack of irrigation facilities due to scarce availability of water resources.

2. Small, scattered land holdings and sparsely located population.

3. Wide spread natural vagaries like drought; hail storms; frost; etc.

4. Serious gaps in the application of advanced floriculture technologies for the

necessary floriculture production and improving quality and productivity.

5. High pressure on land use for different purposes like cereal crop

production, fodder production, etc., due to low per capita land availability.6. Difficulty in technology dissemination due to difficult terrain, hostile climate,

poor communication facilities and sparsely located population.

7. Lack of consuming markets within the State resulting in dependence upon

distant markets of the country.

8. High post harvest losses due to:

(a)Lack of modern post harvest management system.

(b) Very high temperature differentials in the producing areas

and the consuming markets.

High perishable nature of flowers resulting in high post

harvest losses during transport.

(d) Distantly located production areas from the main roads.

9. High cost of marketing mainly due to high cost of transportation.

10. Lack of organized system of marketing through co-operatives and packing

houses.


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11. Lack of bargaining power with the individual growers due to small

productive levels.

12. Inadequate availability of market intelligence to the farmers resulting in

imbalances in distribution of produce in different markets.

13. Lack of media support to the floriculture industry for increasing the demand

and consumption of floriculture products of Himachal origin in the

consuming markets.

14. Lack of reliable database both in respect of production and marketing.

15. Concentration on domestic markets resulting in lack of quality

consciousness amongst the growers.

16.Lack of scope for mechanization of the floriculture industry for timely

execution of various operations and saving in labour costs.

Opportunities:

1. Opportunities for the improvement of productivity and quality of flower

crops already under cultivation by induction of standardized technologies.

2. Although domestic market continues to be the main plank of floriculture

industry of H.P., yet opportunities do exist for exploring the market in the

adjoining countries of Asian region and Middle East for the export of

Himachal flowers in the future.

3. The general increase in the income levels and improvement in the standardof living of population in the country and increasing awareness about the use of

floriculture has increased the demand for flowers. This trend is likely to

continue in the foreseeable future thereby expanding the market demands for

flowers.

4. Opportunities exist for the value addition in the floriculture industry through

adoption of improved post harvest management, packing and storage

technologies for improving shelf life, reducing losses and increasing the

marketing season/period in the year.

Documents

Profile of the Floriculture Scenario