Floriculture

The government of India has identified floriculture as a sunrise industry and accorded it 100% export-oriented status. Owing to the steady increase in demand for flowers, floriculture has become one of the important Commercial trades in Agriculture. Hence commercial floriculture has emerged as a hi-tech activity-taking place under controlled climatic conditions inside a greenhouse. Floriculture in India is being viewed as a high growth Industry. Commercial floriculture is becoming important from the export angle. The liberalization of industrial and trade policies paved the way for the development of export-oriented production of cut flowers. The new seed policy already made it feasible to import planting materials of international varieties. It has been found that commercial floriculture has higher potential per unit area than most field crops and is, therefore, a lucrative business. The 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.
Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) is responsible for export promotion and development of floriculture in India.
Varieties:
These mainly consist of cut flowers, pot plants, cut foliage, seeds bulbs, tubers, rooted cuttings and dried flowers or leaves. The important floricultural crops in the international cut flower trade are Rose, Carnation, Chrysanthemum, Gargera, Gladiolus, Gypsophila, Liatris, Nerine, Orchids, Archilea, Anthurium, Tulip, and Lilies. Floriculture crops like Gerberas, Carnation, etc. are grown in greenhouses. The open field crops are Chrysanthemum, Roses, Gaillardia, Lily Marygold, Aster, Tuberose, etc.
Areas of Cultivation:

Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhatisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Maharashtra have emerged as major floriculture centers.

India produces 958 thousand MT of cut flowers. For loose flowers the area under cultivation is 258 thousand hectare with production of 2236 thousand MT (source: NHB, 2023-24 first advance estimate)

India Facts and Figures:
The country has exported 21024.41 MT of floriculture products to the world for the worth of Rs. 707.81 Crores/ 88.38 USD Millions in 2022-23.
Major Export Destinations (2022-23): U.S.A, Netherland, United Arab Emts, U.K. Germany and Malaysia were major importing countries of Indian floriculture during the same period.
   
Individual Sub – Products :
  Bulbs, Tubers, Tuberous Roots Plant For Tissue Culture
  Bulbs Horticultural Flowering Plants
  Chicory plants Other Live Plants
  Other Bulb/Tubers Live Mushrooms Spawn
  Unrooted Cuttings Cut Flowers for Bouquet / Fresh
  Edible Fruit Trees Grafted or Not Other Cut Flowers for Bouquets
  Cactus Moosses & Lichens for Bouquet Fresh
  Rhododendrons (Grafted or Not) Fresh Other Foliages / Buds For Bouquet
  Roses Grafted or Not Foliages/ Branch / Buds Not Fresh