Uttarakhand to focus on flowers to boost economy

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.

"We see tremendous scope for growth of floriculture in our state, particularly in the hills," said Secretary (Horticulture) Utpal Kumar Singh.

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.

Sanjay Goel, who is the secretary of the society, said his organisation is taking all the steps to boost the export growth from the state.

Goel also claimed that entrepreneurs in the Terai area of Uttarakhand, which include Kashipur, Ramnagar, Jaspur, have invested nearly Rs 20 crore in the sector.

According to NC Nainwal, an expert on floriculture, 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.