Rajasthan to turn flowery, focus on ornamental flowers

Jaipur: Desert state of Rajasthan has decided to take the ornamental path to tap the booming flower market by pro-actively promoting cultivation of decorative flowers like orchid, bird paradise and anthurium in select districts.

Some areas in the state are mainly producing marigold, roses, jasmine and now the government plans to encourage cultivation of popular ornamental flowers like Gerbera, bird paradise, Rajnigandha, tulip, lilium, orchid and anthurium due to its high potential, Agriculture Minister Prabhu Lal Saini said. "We have decided to focus on the concept of decorative flower cultivation in the state and districts like Jaipur, Baran, Bundi, Sirohi, Alwar, Ajmer, which are suitable climatically, have been identified for cultivation," Saini said. "The market opportunities are enormous as the demand of assortment of decorative flowers is on rise significantly due to increasing consumption at weddings, other functions and home decoration needs," he said, noting that major share of such flowers are presently being supplied from outside the state. Interested farmers from these districts will be given training soon and they will be apprised of the structure of the trade and scope. "This is a commercially viable option and farmers can reap good profits.If the production goes high, our farmers would also be fulfilling demands of other markets outside the state. "We expect that the demand of such flowers, which are mainly sold by florists and street vendors, would be locally fulfilled in coming years. Presently, cultivation of cut flowers, dutch roses is under experiment at a center of excellence in Bassi near Jaipur and has delivered encouraging results and we now plan to expand it in other suitable parts of the state," he said. A park of Lilium and tulip will be developed on 40 hectare land near Behror on Jaipur-Delhi highway in next two months for which Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has given her nod. Flower business in the state remains normally picks up during the festival and marriage seasons. In routine days, demand of over 50,000 kg flowers remains in Jaipur flower market which is a big flower center in the state. Pushkar, Jaipur, Kota, Bharatpur are the main areas for flower cultivation in present and Pushkar is known world over for rose farming. The present farming of marigold, rose and other flowers are fulfilling the daily needs of temple towns within and outside the state. Whereas Puskhar town a rose hub-- fulfill the demand of roses in the market of Ajmer dargarh, areas in Eastern parts of the state produces marigold and the flowers are sent to towns outside the state such as Mathura, Vrindavan and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.