India Florist Flowers Of India
The
major markets for flowers are situated in the states, which
produce significant quantities of flowers. Kerala is one
state that has a fairly large market without any production
of flowers. Some states, particularly Southern ones, have
more than one large market in the state as the area under
flower production is fairly widely distributed. The major
markets in terms of number of traders involved and the quantity
traded are in the peninsular and east India. The major markets
in peninsular India are Madras, Coimbatore and Madurai and
Tamil Nadu; Bangalore, Mysore and Dharwad in Karnataka;
Hyderabad and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh; Trivandrum and
Cochin in Kerala; and Bombay and Pune in Maharashtra. The
city of Bombay itself has three large markets. Calcutta
in the east is probably the biggest. In addition to the
market in the city of Calcutta., there are several fairly
large regional markets in West Bengal. In the north probably
Lucknow/Kannauj and Delhi are the big market for flowers
besides locations in Rajasthan. It is tempting to give an
estimate of the value of flowers traded in the country.
As this is a study of the industry many readers would also
expect an estimate. We attempted to estimate, but it proved
to be quite a difficult task for several reasons.
India Florist
Some
of the major markets were visited for discussions with traders
during the survey. (The markets visited were Delhi, Lucknow,
Kannauj, Calcutta, Ranaghat, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Pune, Bombay,
Madras, Coimbatore, Madurai, Kanyakumari, Trivandrum, Hyderabad,
and Bangalore.) First, the traders themselves are very reluctant,
for understandable reasons, to reveal their volume of business.
Second, the quantity of each flower, which comes into the
market, varies from day to day. Third, the sale of many
flowers varies widely not only from day to day but also
within a day. We realized the only way to arrive at reliable
estimates would be to monitor the markets over extended
periods of time. The estimates of volume of trade one comes
across, particularly in terms of rupees, are likely to be
spurious unless they are based on traders reporting of their
sales which is generally not forthcoming. So, we reluctantly
present two indicators of volume of trade in some markets
with a great deal of trepidation. The first estimate is
based on discussions with traders. This information is available
for some of the markets only. A few agents/wholesalers in
each of the markets were asked about the volume of their
business and their estimate of the trade in the market as
a whole. The number of commission agents operating in different
markets is also available to us.
Some
estimates of total trade were given by the representatives
of organisations of agents in a few markets. Two sets of
figures are presented. The first is the estimate of trade
by individual agents. The total for the market is arrived
at by multiplying individual trade by the number of agents
in the market. But there are problems. All agents do not
deal in all flowers and our sample was not large enough
to determine what portion of the agents deal in a particular
flower. Therefore, the figures we have arrived at appear
to overestimate the actual trade. The second set of figures
is the estimate of trade in the market given by agents themselves.
For example, the estimate of trade in rose is arrived at
by multiplying individual volume of trade by the number
of agents for the three markets in Bombay and are 31,500,
29,400 and 29,200 dozens per day while estimates of trade
given by the agents in the three markets are 6,000, 6,000
and 10,000 dozen per day. These numbers should at best be
treated as upper and lower bounds for the volume of trade
taking place in the market. The second set of estimates
is likely to be more reliable because it is based on the
area of production. But the production areas themselves
are the result of educated guesses of the people we surveyed
except in the case of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
We have attempted to estimate the value of flowers traded
in India. The total value of major flowers produced in India
at the wholesale prices is estimated to be Rs. 1,219.4 million.
There are problems here too. For some states, details of
the area under production of different flowers such as rose
which have both varieties, traditional and modern, pose
difficulties. There is a substantial area under production
of other flowers, the value of which is not included in
the above estimate.
Although
no formal efforts have been made to organize this industry
a marketing system has evolved which performs fairly well
with respect to incentives it offers to the producers and
the price at which it makes the products available to the
consumers. Flowers, being perishable and delicate, make
their marketing challenging. Now we proceed with the discussion
of the nature of demand and supply of flowers and the behaviour
of market prices.
Flowers
Introduction
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. About 60,000 ha area is
under floriculture at present. Production flowers is estimated
to be 200,000 tonnes of loose flowers and 500 million (numbers)
of cut flowers.
Floriculture - Production area
In India, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana
have emerged as major floriculture entrees in recent times.
At present, the internal demand for cut-flower and ornamental
plants in mainly met through production at coastal areas of
Kerala mainly Cochin &Trivandrum.
There is also a tremendous potential for growing
these plants, on commercial scale, along the coastal region
in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka,
besides in the Western Ghats.
Growth promotional activities
The most promising area is the dry flower industry. Dried
flower and plants have been exported for the last 30 years
and today, India is one of the leading countries in the field.
In Rajasthan, more than 7,000 tonnes of rose are produced.
About 75% of this is exported to West Asian countries in the
form of dry petals. Not just flowers, but other plant parts
like leaves, stems and pods are also used in the dry flower
industry.
Flower trade in India is flourishing as many
research centers and special nurseries have turned into a
promising business. Exports of floriculture products was valued
at Rs. 700 million (US$ 20 million). There has been an impressive
growth in the export of cut flowers from Rs. 10 million to
Rs. 700 million in the previous years. More than 191 export-oriented
units (EOUs) have been approved in the sector out of which
70 units are operational. But many of them operate at less
than 50% of their capacity. With redress of the problem, the
floriculture industry thus may turn to be viable enterprise
for earning foreign exchange.
Besides the development due to the efforts
of Institute for Horticultural research in Bangalore and Institute
for Botanical Research, in 1970, another impetus was given
to the business of cultivating flowers with the establishment
of the “Project for Improving Horticulture in India”.
Types
The Indian flowers are either exported to world over in the
form of seeds or capsules or dried flowers. This industry
has gained popularity due to the presence of exclusive varieties
of ornamental flowers grown in India. Rose, Marigold, Chrysanthemum,
Mogra are some of the mostly sold varieties.
GOLDENROD
FLOWERS
At the right you see me standing in a big field
in southern Mississippi, surrounded by millions of Canada
Goldenrods, Solidago canadensis. In the fall, few wildflowers
and weeds put on such a brilliant show as goldenrods.
Goldenrods are members of the Composite Family, so by no means
do their blossoms have the same structure as our Standard
Blossom. If you run across a goldenrod, try to find the following
parts of the actual goldenrod flower.
In the above photo you can see that the flowering
yellow top -- the inflorescence -- of each goldenrod plant
consists of numerous arching, fingerlike structures. On our
Blossom Arrangement Page we see that this kind of inflorescence
is known as a panicle. The fingerlike structures are branches
of the goldenrod's panicle. At the left you see one of those
branches magnified several times. Each of those cylindrical
things with a fuzzy top is a head consisting of several flowers
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At the right you see a much-magnified head.
The outwardly flaring items that in other blossoms we might
call petals are actually ray flowers. Inside the head are
visible several disk flowers. A couple of the disk flowers
have anthers rising above them. This whole collection of ray
and disk flowers is held together in a slender, greenish-yellow,
cuplike structure known as the involucre. If you were holding
the head in your hand, you could separate the longish, flattish,
tongue-like involucral bracts from one another
At the left you see a much-much magnified disk
flower, with a less-magnified ray flower shown in the yellow-framed
inset at the lower right in the picture. Now things are beginning
to look a little more like our Standard Blossom, for the corolla
tube has five petal-like lobes. The entire disk flower measures
only about 3/16ths of an inch long (4 mm).
The pappus consists of stiff bristles atop
the inferior ovary (as explained on our Standard Blossom page).
Later both of these items will enlarge, while other flower
parts will wither and fall off. The inferior ovary will become
a special kind of hard, dry fruit called an achene, and the
pappus will develop into a kind of "parachute" that will help
the achene travel to a new location on the wind.
Marketing of flowers in India
Flowers are very intimately associated with
the social and religious activities in India. In social life,
flowers are offered to welcome, to felicite and to greet friends
or relatives and guests in functions. Flowers are needed in
all the religious ceremonies functions including marriages.
Garlands and wreaths are offered on dead bodies of martyars
and very important persons (VIPs) and national heroes as a
gratitude for the work done and sacrifice made by them. Flower
is a taken of love and tenderness. They are wanted due to
various attractive colours and fragrance. Flowers are also
used for extracting essential oils, which are used in perfumes.
Many flowers have medicinal values and hence are used in Ayurveda.
In India, large number of flowers are grown in different parts
according to soils and climate and also likings and preferences
of the people for specific type of flowers. Important flowers
are rose, marigold, chrysanthemum, jasmine, lily, tuberose,
aster, zinia, carnation, gladiolus, galardia etc. Flowers
are tender and hence highly perishable. They are generally
used in fresh form but they have very short shelf life. This
poses great problems in their marketing, particularly lone
distance marketing. Therefore, flower cultivation is concentrated
in the hinterland of big cities like Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore,
Mysore, Chennai, Calcutta, Delhi etc. But with the development
of quick transport vehicles and refrigerated or insulated
vans, flowers are transported to distant markets including
foreign markets. For successful marketing of flowers, well-developed
markets and well-organised marketing system is necessary.
In the marketing of flowers the aspects involved are –
Channels of marketing,
2. Costs and margins and price spread and
3. Producer’s share in consumer’s
rupee.
Roses
In Haryana, in the marketing of roses three
channels were observed.
Channel I - Producer – Commission agent
- Retailer – Consumer (in Delhi market)
Channel II - Producer - Retailer – Consumer
Channel III - Producer - Consumer (Local market)
Since Delhi is a big market, 65% flowers were
sold through Channel I and remaining 32% and 3% were sold
through Channels II and Channels III. Thus the local market
sale was only 3%. Marketing costs, margins and producer’s
share in consumer’s rupee is given below for roses sold
after making garlands-
Sr.
No.
Particulars
Channel I
Channel II
Rs/Q.
%
Rs/Q.
%
1.
Producer’s share
1465
51.72
1504
53.09
2.
Marketing costs
657
22.91
-
-
3.
Commission charges
99
3.74
622
21.95
4.
Retailer’s margin
612
21.61
707
24.94
5.
Consumer’s price
2833
100.00
2833
100.00
Price spread of marketing roses in loose form
Sr.
No.
Particulars
Channel I
Channel II
Rs/Q.
%
Rs/Q.
%
1.
Producer’s share
1465
73.08
1504
77.17
2.
Marketing costs
245
12.24
208
18.66
3.
Commission agent’s margin 99
4.91
-
-
4.
Retailer’s margin
196
9.77
238
12.21
5.
Consumer’s price
2005
100.00
1950
100.00
India Florist Flowers of india
There was increase in value of roses when sod
in the form of garlands as shown below: -
A. Price of roses sold in the form of garlands
(Rs/Kg.) 2832.50
B. Price of roses sold in loose form (Rs/Kg.)
2005.00
Addition – Rs/Kg. 827.50
Percentage (%) 41.27
Thus, there was increase in the value of roses
by 41.27% when sold in the form of garlands. But the producer’s
share was reduced from 73% to 52% indicating that the producer
was not benefited by increase in value.
Orchids
In Kerala, cultivation of orchids has now assumed
commercial status. In the marketing of orchids, there existed
two main agencies. (1) Local buyers and (2) Distant market
florists, indicating two Channels.
Channel I - Producer – Local buyer –
Consumer
Channel II - Producer - Wholesaler - Retailer
– Consumer
The cost of marketing worked out to Rs. 3.00
per spike. In this transport cost was the major (73%) followed
by packing (27%), Marketing orchids in the distant markets
was more remunerative with B.C. ratio of 2 than local (field)
sale.
Gladiolus
In the marketing of gladiolus as cut flowers
in Karnataka, two channels were observed.
Channel I - Producer – Wholesaler –
Retailer – Consumer
Channel II - Producer – Contractor –
Retailer – Consumer
Channel I was more important with 84% produce
passing through this channel than channel II with 16%produce
passing through it. The comparison of returns from market
sale and contract sale are shown below (Rs. Per 100 dozen)
Sr.
No.
Particulars
Cannel I
(Market sale)
Channel II
(Contract sale)
1.
Gross returns
4000
3000
2.
Additional costs
I) Transport
13.02
-
ii) Personnel
19.08
-
iii) Packing
8.91
-
iv) Market fee
0.78
-
Sub Total
42.39
-
3.
Net returns (1-2)
3957.61
3000
4.
B.C.ratio
23.59
-
This showed that it is more remunerative to
sell flowers in the market where the forces of demand and
supply are more clear and price determination is competitive
and open or transparent.
Jasmine
In the marketing of Jasmine in Karnataka, following
channel was observed.
Channel – Producer – Trader-cum-commission
agent – Retailer – Consumer
The marketing cost was Rs. 6.61 per kg. Which
was over 15% of the value of flowers sold by the farmers (Rs.44
per kg). Producers share was as low as 41%. The trader-cum-commission
agent and retailers margins were 6.02% and 45.78% respectively.
About 85% farmers opined that the commission charges were
very high.
Marigold
In the marketing of marigold following three
channels were identified.
Channel I - Producer – Commission agent
– Retailer – Consumer
Channel II - Producer – Retailer –
Consumer
Channel III - Producer – Consumer
Nearly 99% flowers were sold through channels
I and II. The flowers were sold in two ways (1) in loose form
and (2) in the form of garlands. The garlands were prepared
at the retailer’s level. When flowers were sold after
making garlands, the producer’s share in the consumer’s
rupee was 22.63% and 23.70% respectively in Channels I and
II. These shares were quite high at 72% and 75% respectively
in Channels I and II when flowers were sold in loose form.
This was due to the fact that in the process of making garlands,
the retailer incurred substantial cost in the form of skilled
labour, which resulted into increase in the value of flowers,
and hence he shared greater margin.
Gladiolus
Consumer quality present survey for gladioli
flowers showed that
among the four floral attributes such as colour,
variety, floral arrangement and price, the consumer’s
in general placed priority for variety (i.e. hybrid) followed
by colour (i.e.pink),
women also showed greater inclination to variety (hybrid).
Even youngsters preferred variety as the most important attribute,
highly educated consumer’s had also strong preference
for hybrid varieties.
Among the three market segments the major segment exhibited
strong favour towards variety. This segment was highly conspicuous
as it was dominated by women who were mostly youngsters, highly
educated and relatively well off. However, the relative importance
attached to different attributes varied across the market
segments.
In general, marketing of flowers is not well developed and
well organised. There is no improved packing. Flowers like
marigold are packed in gunny bags. Transport and commission
charges (10-15%) are the main items of costs. Cold chain system
of transport is not yet followed for flowers, which are sold
in domestic markets. Therefore, long distant marketing (beyond
500 km) is not possible. However, floriculture is emerging
as a commercial proposition in recent years due to export
of some selected flower types and varieties. Production of
export oriented flowers in green houses/poly houses is a recent
technological adoption in India, which has given impetus to
exports. But there is urgent need to improve packing system,
quality of flowers (grading), quick and refrigerated transport
and organisation with minimum intermediaries. Floriculture
crops require intensive cultivation and have high income potential.
Therefore, they generate good employment in rural area. An
acre of land under flower cultivation can support a family
of 5-6 members. It can fetch annual income of Rs. 30,000/-
if much valued flowers like roses, carnations, gladiolus and
orchids are grown.
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ROSE BLOSSOMS
The blossoms of wild, native roses are similar
to our Standard Blossom in that they possess five colorful
petals. However, as you can see in the rose at the right,
that flower has many more than five petals. That's because
the rose in the picture, and most of the roses you'll run
across in average backyards, are horticultural varieties that
have been hybridized and otherwise changed around by humans
so that they have extra petals, which make them more gaudy.
In the picture, the small, round, yellowish spot is composed
of several stigmas. Surrounding this cluster of stigmas are
several mealy looking stamens, composed of anthers atop their
stemlike filaments. Then surrounding the stamens are the blossom's
many bright petals.
At the left I've made a cross-section of a rose blossom to
show the parts better. Now it's clear that rose flowers are
different from our Standard Blossom in other important ways,
too. For one thing, instead of possessing a single ovary,
rose flowers have several. Each ovary's style joins with other
styles and extends in a column upward through the surrounding
stamens, and ends with its own stigma.
Even more profoundly different from our Standard
Blossom is the fact that the ovaries are positioned on the
side of a cuplike structure known as the hypanthium. The upper
rim of the hypanthium more or less closes over the ovaries
inside it, leaving only a hole large enough for the styles
to pass through.
Atop the hypanthium there's a circular disk
from which many stamens arise. Our Standard Blossom had only
5 stamens, so this is yet another difference between it and
the average rose flower.
You might ask, How did horticulturists get
wild, 5-petaled rose flowers to produce so many extra petals,
and therefore make the flower more spectacular?
It happens that the genetic information that
produces stamens is somehow closely associated with that which
produces petals. The proof of that is that sometimes in rose
flowers you can find a stamen with certain features of a petal,
or a petal with certain features of a stamen. As I was dissecting
the above blossom I happened to find just such a thing, which
is shown at the right. There you see a cluster of stamens
removed from the staminal disk, with one of the stamens' anthers
clearly becoming "petaloid" on one side. In this same blossom
I also found petals with what appeared to be remnants of stamen
filaments along their edges!
THE FLOWERS : TYPES
According to the corolla:
Sympetalous: When the petals are joined , wholly
or partly.
Polypetalous: If the petals are not joined.
Actinomorphic: Can be divided into two exact
parts, if a line is drawn from one side to the other, reaching
the centre, no matter where the line is drawn .( radial symmetry)
Zygomorphic: Only two symmetrical parts are
possible if a line is drawn from one side to the other, reaching
the centre. With a single plane of symmetry ( bilateral symmetry)
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