In a bid to revive the floriculture industry, the Centre is planning to infuse more funds and finance into the sick units across the country. Slow exports and low price realisation in the global market had hit the Rs 300 crore industry which has around 60 units across the country.
Official sources say as a preliminary step, the government plans to start auction centres in various states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka and West Bengal apart from establishing them in major metros. These auction centres would be based on the model of the centre in Netherlands, they added. However, they refused to divulge the amount.
Sources said that to help the industry compete globally, the Centre is trying to get Europe to reduce the import duty levied on Indian cut flowers.
"Moreover, a rehabilitation financial package is being worked out for floriculture units under which additional funds would be made available to the sick units to revive them. There is also a probability that the existing policy of 100 per cent Export Oriented Units (EOUs) may also be altered to facilitate the flower sector," sources said.
To help floriculturists get a better market and price realisation for their produce globally, Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA) is setting up a common marketing facility in Amsterdam.
Currently, flowers from India are being offered at 30 per cent discount to international buyers by middlemen in Amsterdam auctions compared to South Africa and other European countries, which command a much higher price. This is because Indian flowers become two days old by the time they reach the auctions and are not as fresh.
Globally, the floriculture market is worth $3 billion, but India is a marginal player. This is because the country specialises in cut roses only, whereas there has been a growing demand in the global market for varieties of gladioli, lilies among others, sources said.
According to DGCIS data, though the overall floriculture export trend is on the rise, the vital growth rate has shown a sharp decline to eight per cent from 22 per cent in the previous year. In value terms, export income for 1997-98 stood at Rs 81 crore which increased by 20 per cent to Rs 97 crore in 1998-99.
Statistics show that the first nine months of 1999 exports were around Rs 85 crore but it fell by nearly eight per cent to Rs 79 crore in the same period last year.
Growers say that the fall in exports is due to problems such as cost of imported technology, transportation, lack of direct flights to flower marketing areas.
"The government should partly reimburse the cost of technology besides helping the growers with available infrastructure like agri vans and cold storages and cargo planes with temperature maintained at 2-4 degrees centigrade for easy accessibility to market areas like Amsterdam, Copenhagen and other parts of the European Union," growers added.
