Cultivating flower power

It''s time to usher in golden harvests. At a one-day workshop held on January 3, the flower growers of Uttaranchal got together under the umbrella of a state-level cooperative federation namely ''Uttaranchal Flori-Tech Federation�.
An ad hoc committee of office bearers of the federation was also formed by the members who elected Vijay Singh from Kashipur as chairman.Pankaj Shah and Rajiv Kapoor were elected as vice-chairmen of the federation. The workshop, organized by the Diversified Agricultural Support Project-Uttaranchal (DASP UA), was attended by over 90 flower growers from various parts of the capital and the neighbouring districts.
Speaking at the workshop, Dr. R.S. Tolia, principal secretary and forest and rural development commissioner emphasized the importance of forming an integrated chain of federations across the state for ensuring scientific and efficient promotion of various activities such as vegetables, fruits, flowers, milk and organic farming. He urged the farmers to seek appropriate assistance from DASP UA in carrying out their activities. “We must build upon the opportunities being provided through the project and banks should also come forward to provide financial assistance to the farmers through their various schemes,� Dr. Tolia said.
He assured the flower growers that the government would be shortly acting upon their suggestions regarding the setting up of an export wing with an appropriate government agency, to facilitate sound use of the nature''s resources in the state. Speaking at the workshop, Dr. Sanjeev Chopra, secretary horticulture and rural development urged the flower growers to strengthen themselves by forming cooperatives, while citing the famous example of the Amul Cooperative Society. Dr. Chopra said that in similar manner, producer-friendly societies should be constituted in Uttaranchal. Various issues related to growing, storage and marketing of flowers were raised by the farmers such as availability of quality planting material, appropriate transport mechanism, cold-storage facility for seeds and cut-flowers, availability of improved technology for floriculture and mechanism for controlling diseases and pests.
Some of the participants voiced their concern regarding the shortcomings relating to their dependency on wholesale traders in the Delhi market as well as in Uttaranchal.
Representatives of the State Bank of India and the Punjab National Bank also attended the Workshop and answered various queries relating to the financing of projects which they promised would be least bothersome. Representative of the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) also gave a presentation on the schemes being run by NCDC to render financial assistance to the cooperatives.
At the onset R.K. Pant, technical coordinator, DASP UA, and A.K. Tyagi, senior technical expert, DASP UA, updated the participants about the various global issues involved and the steps being taken by DASP UA to address some of the handicaps.
The follow up meeting of the Federation would be held on January 12, when the various bye-laws and operational modalities would be addressed.