Floricultural A Ray Of Hope For Farmers Of Punjab
Author(s): City Air NewsChandigarh, November 10, 2015: The progressive and enterprising farmers of Punjab are fast taking up floriculture as an alternative to the traditional crops. Some of them have started seed production of flowering...
cityairnews
Nov 10, 2015 10:30
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Chandigarh, November 10, 2015: The progressive and enterprising farmers of Punjab are fast taking up floriculture as an alternative to the traditional crops. Some of them have started seed production of flowering annuals for export purpose informed a spokesman from the Horticulture Department of Punjab.
Citing the example of 5 Punjabi farmers who have gone to Holland to participate in the International Floral Exhibition being organised from November 3 to November 13, he said that this shows the amount of interest Punjabi farmers are evincing in this field. This exhibition will give them an opportunity to learn and advance in the field by dint of international exposure.
He said that Punjab government has launched a new policy to encourage flower transplantation in the state. As per which the state government will control purchase, sale, storage and processing of all flowers in notified areas of Market committees in several districts.
He said the initiative will help the farmers to get out of the vicious cycle of wheat-paddy cultivation and supplement their income with the plantation of flowers, the demand for which is on the rise.
He said that Floriculture is expanding very fast as an industry world over and same is the case for it in India. Floriculture has become a very popular commercial activity during last decade of the outgoing millennium. With the declaration of “Floriculture” as an extreme focus area by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, the sector has acquired a special status in the basket of India’s export commodities. The sector is still in a nascent stage of development and accounts for a negligible share in the global exports. However, the sector has attracted attention of the major giants from both within the country and overseas market. As a result, floricultural offers a ray of hope to farmers of Punjab as the state has suitable soil and climatic conditions for flower cultivation.
He said that there is a good scope for commercial floriculture in Punjab and added that the Punjabi farmers should harness the benefits of the quantum jump created in the market by the consumers. They should exploit this opportunity by setting up floriculture projects and added that the cultivation of floriculture plants fits well in the rotation of commonly grown grain crops. Moreover, the cultivation of flowers for seed production gives better returns from floricultural crops than the traditionally grown crops.
Date:
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
