It’s bloom time for Karnataka’s flower sector

As thousands of buyers seek red roses to fill bouquets and multicoloured ones to decorate wedding venues, Karnataka, the top producer of roses in India, has more than doubled the production of the flower in 2022 to 1,71,880 tonnes against 76,910 tonnes in 2018, according to data from the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).

Similarly, Karnataka’s production of chrysanthemums has nearly doubled in the past five years. Growers attribute the rise in demand for chrysanthemums and light-coloured roses to decorations in weddings and events.

“In the past four-five years, light-coloured roses have become popular. White roses are preferred in winter,” says P Jaganatharaju, a rose grower and exporter. Between January and April, demand goes up five-fold, he adds.

Another exporter from the city agrees: “The International Flower Auction Bangalore handles about 3.25 lakh stems on an average day, but during Valentine’s Day celebrations, it ranges from 6.5 to 8 lakh stems a day.” A single-stem rose that would otherwise sell for Rs 4 to Rs 6, costs around Rs 8 to Rs 15 during the season.

Watch | How Bengaluru became India's rose capital

While demand for roses is stable, recent years have seen a larger market for chrysanthemums, gerberas, oriental lilies, orchids and carnations domestically. Demand for Karnataka’s flowers from other cities has risen exponentially over the years. “Even tier B and tier C cities are seeing high demand,” says an exporter.

Bengaluru's Dutch roses, in particular, are popular. “The climate and elevation are ideal for good bud and stem size,” says M Vishwanath, managing director, International Flower Auction Bangalore and joint director of Horticulture, Bengaluru Division.

In the past five years, Karnataka’s total production of flowers has increased from about 3.04 lakh tonnes to 4.84 lakh tonnes. The state accounted for 14 per cent of the country’s floriculture production in 2022.

The state is also the third-largest exporter of flowers in the country. However, rising export costs have led to a decline in Karnataka’s share of exports from 14.3 per cent (2018) to 8 per cent (2022).

“Due to high air freight costs, we are selling about 40 per cent of our total production in the global market, and supplying the rest domestically,” says Sridhar Chowdary, an exporter of assorted flowers.

Another rising concern is the application of 18 per cent GST on air freight. “In the past two months, we have had to pay this additional cost,” says Sridhar. This nearly doubles costs, he explains.

These concerns are causing exporters across the country to sell larger quantities of their products domestically.

New states

Yet, with states like Bihar and Telangana blooming in the floriculture exports market in recent years, the country’s total exports have risen from 20,703 tonnes in 2018 to 23,597 tonnes last year. For instance, Bihar saw a 1,519 per cent increase in flower exports in the past five years.

The floriculture market has been granted “export-oriented sector” status by the Union government. The top importing countries in 2021-22 were the US, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany and the UAE.

The net profit from growing flowers is estimated to be 10 to 20 times higher than most food crops. At the same time, it is a high-capital, high-input industry.

Currently, the government provides a subsidy of Rs 50 lakh for flower cultivation on one hectare of land. The setting up of a greenhouse on one hectare can cost between Rs 1 and 1.3 crore. “In order to truly support growers, the horticulture department needs to subsidise the setting up of greenhouses on at least five hectares,” says Sridhar.

Imports down

Growers point out that the import of flowers is declining due to increasing domestic supply. "We are innovating and diversifying production by locally growing varieties like hydrangeas and snapdragons, which were previously imported from Colombia or European countries," says Bollapally Srikanth, president of the Growers Flower Council India. Bengaluru's moderate climate, with only two months of extreme weather, is ideal for such floricultural innovation, he explains.