Let a million flowers bloom in Karnataka

BANGALORE: 'Say it with flowers' is no longer just a romantic catchphrase. For Karnataka, flowers are a huge business prospect which could mean a turning point in its entire economy.
The state will get Rs 500 crore under the National Horticulture Mission (NHM) and the PM's farmers relief package for 14 districts — highest in the country — over the next five years.A large chunk of this money will be diverted to the blooming floriculture trade. "We expect a lot of action in floriculture in the state in the near future. Floriculture is the root, it boosts the entire horticulture sector.
Horticulture should grow at an annual 8% if the national economy is to match the same rate," agriculture principal secretary A Ramaswamy said. With six agriculture export zones set up only to breed flowers, the state is naturally sitting pretty in the floriculture market. Even without government support, the market is big — the value of annual exports of cut flowers from Karnataka is in the range of Rs 50 crore. This, however, is a drop in the bucket in the global $50 billion trade in flowers with European and African nations like Kenya taking the lead. Aiming to grab a bigger share of this pie, chief minister H D Kumaraswamy has asked state officials to pay special attention to the sector.
Karnataka already has flower crops in over 21,000 hectares with an annual production of around 1.57 lakh tonnes. The main flower crops are traditional flowers like crossandra, jasmine, rose, chrysanthemum, tuberose, aster, marigold and commercial crops like Dutch roses, gerbera, carnation, anthurium, orchids, bird of paradise, cut flower chrysanthemum and gladioli.
Two demands of the sector need to be implemented if the state is to tap the huge international market which has acknowledged the good quality of Indian flowers — slash tax on air turbine fuel (which is at a high 38%) and central and taxes that peg taxation for horticulture products to a whopping 78%.
"This taxation is killing the industry and needs to be slashed. Also, an international auction house has been planned for Bangalore along the lines of Alsmeer in the Netherlands. The land earmarked for it is now under dispute and this needs to be resolved," industry sources said.
The CM has indicated that he'll visit the Alsmeer auction house during his scheduled trip to the Netherlands to see for himself the international flower trade. But it needs government will for this industry to reach greater heights in the state.