BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to promote commercial cultivation of traditional flowers to meet the increasing demand in the domestic market, the state government has decided to implement the floriculture programme in mission mode.
As floriculture is blossoming into a viable business and cultivation of flowers showing encouraging results, the government has decided to set up a state level committee under the chairmanship of Director, Horticulture to formulate guidelines and monitor progress of implementation of schemes assisted under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).
“It will be a statutory committee at State level for periodic review of the implementation of the scheme, guidelines and if needed, resolve issues relating to the implementation process,” said a senior officer of the Horticulture Directorate.
The nine-member committee will be represented by Dean, College of Agriculture Engineering and Technology, OUAT, Managing Director of APICOL, representatives of Nabard, State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC), Deputy Director of National Horticulture Board, heads of department of OUAT’s Floriculture and Landscaping, Additional Director of Horticulture and two farmers’ representatives.
At the district level, a 7-member committee headed by the project coordinator, district rural development agency (DRDA) will select beneficiaries, facilitate credit support and explore marketing opportunities.
The state level committee will meet at least twice a year while the district panels will meet every quarter and when necessary, the officer said. Commercial cultivation of cut flowers like roses, orchids, gerbera and gladiolus have become popular but on a limited scale.
The area under floriculture in the state is about 6,500 hectare with an annual production of about 24,800 tonnes of loose flowers and about 5,500 lakh cut flowers. The flower production is able to meet only 10 per cent of the state’s demand.
Odisha largely depends on neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal to meet its flower requirement during festive seasons. Sources said though qualitative data on area, production and trade are not available, the mushrooming of florists in all cities and towns are indicative of the high rate of growth.
Considering the potential of this sector to generate employment involving women in large number, the state government has planned to extend financial assistance to farmers taking up floriculture. The objective is to involve farmers having small land holdings to take up floriculture.
Apart from providing them with training, the government will facilitate institutional credit and market linkage.