India is having tradition of growing flowers since time immemorial. Besides ideal climatic conditions, soil and other natural resources, along with comparatively cheap labour, it should come as no surprise to anyone that floriculture is taking strong roots in India which has a long tradition of flowers and their uses. The domestic industry is growing at annual rate of 7-10 per cent. The area under flowers has crossed one-lakh hectares concentrated mostly in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra, and West Bengal. These states are hot bed of traditional flowers. In Karnataka, the traditionally grown flowers occupy 2712 ha of land with a pro-duction of 140814 tons. From this data we can conclude that area and production of loose flowers is much more than cut flowers grown.

Long tradition of flowers and their uses, dating back to vedic ages. Flowers are being used for religious worship, decorations and garlands of various types. According to a report of the NHB, the total area under flower crops in 2007-08 was estimated around 160.7 thousand hectares, which includes traditional flowers like jasmine, chrysanthemum, gomphrena, crossandra, tuberose, aster, marigold, lotus and Indian orchid, and modern flowers including rose, carnation, gladiolus, liliums, Anthurium, gerbera etc. Indian floriculture industry has been shifting from traditional flowers to cut flowers for export purpose. The liberalized economy has given an impetus to the Indian entrepreneurs for establishing export oriented floriculture units under controlled climatic conditions. The popularity of floriculture is catching up with progressive farmers in many states and the trend is most pronounced in the foothills of the Himalayas. Although India's share in the global market for flowers and flower products is only 0.65 per cent, the growth potential is large. Maharastra is having more potential in floriculture sector, due to its climatic conditions, soil texture and nearest local marketing centers, viz. Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik. The area under floriculture in Maharastra,is 16.7400 ha with a production of 69.45000 MT of loose flowers and 5728.00 lakh numbers of cut flowers.

Indian Population stand today is more than 1 billion. Even now 65% of population depends on agriculture. For this, traditional flowers will support lively hood as small and marginal farmers can not venture the hi-tech floriculture.

• Tastes and trends keep changing in the floriculture trade as in fashion industry. Continuous research is needed to come out periodically with new products that would appeal to the elitist consumers. Only few varieties are available and/or released by state and central research institutes as well in traditional flowers compared to the flowers which are grown under protected condition. For this our institutes need to put efforts at grass root level keeping in mind about demands raised by market, consumer and farmer.

• Total area under floriculture -1,61,000 ha with production of
• Loose flowers: 870.370 MT
• Cut flowers: 43417.46 million numbers and with a productivity of 5.4 MT/ha.

• Present status and growing trade is still in infancy stage which is having a very high potential for export point of view.
• Important from the export angle: Our natural biodiversity may be flowering or foliage species allowing us to exploit the natural resources. Natural species which are in wild condition need to be exploited in the international market. These have a very good potential from export point of view.
• Import of planting material of international varieties is needed to be get reduced in order to compete in the global market. We should promote our own flowers and distribution of those planting material to farmers and growers. For this new seed policies need to come in to effect.
• Till today the subsidies are given only for the units viz, Cold storage, Pre-cooling units, Refrigerated vans, Green houses, and air freight subsidy (Rs.10 per kg for export to Europe & Rs. 6 per Kg for export to West Asia, Southeast Asia).

• Lot of local people are involved- Many farmers are involved in growing and marketing of the loose flowers. The flowers are used for traditional as well as for religious purpose. The family's livelihood is depending on the availability of area.
• Money transaction is within community- Since the family members are involved in day today activities of farm; the money transaction is within the community. Whatever, he earns again he put in the same crop either by selling flowers, buying fertilizers etc.
• Social harmony- These is sort of social harmony maintained through traditionally grown flowers.

• Royalty- For procuring the planting material of cut flowers under export oriented units we have to pay royalties. These require heavy investments for planting material itself.
• Pesticides contamination- By spraying plant protective chemicals on crops we are deteriorating environment and contaminating our soil by indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers. These chemicals have very strong residual effect on soil and will remain years together destroying the natural fauna flora.
• Phyto-sanitory certification- while introducing cut flower planting material phyto-sanitory measures are available at district and metropolitan cities. This takes much time and need to pay money. But this is not the case with traditionally grown flowers which can be send to any corner of country.
• Introduction of planting material along with new pests, diseases and weeds are arriving in our country unknowingly.
• Health aspects of worker (ill effects) - Since the labour is involved in spraying of toxic chemicals the health condition will not be good. He is suffering from bronchial asthma, lung cancer and other deadly diseases due to inhalation of chemicals.
• Pollution by means of use of plastics, soil, water, environment in all ecosystem- During transport and transit each and individual flower is wrapped with plastic bag. Pesticide residue will remain on the plants and same plants when irrigated via sprinkler or misters it will remain in soil. The same water is circulated throughout the food chain contaminating whole ecosystem.

• Money- Money is being discriminated when we undertook the research on foreign flowers. Discrimination in the sense that the variety was bred by foreign breeder, for that we have to pay hefty royalty, these flowers are again sent to foreign markets. This is not the case with traditional flowers.
• R esearch become fancy- Everybody is interested to take up research on these foreign flowers compared to our traditional flowers. Even majority of research institutes are concentrating on foreign flowers like Dutch roses, carnation, orchids, anthuriums, liliums and many others. Doing research on hi-tech flowers gives a sort of satisfaction.
• Amount spent on foreign flowers is too much- Compared to traditional flowers the amount spent on foreign flowers is too high. If the same amount is spent on traditional flowers we can improve a lot in breeding of new varieties, post harvest technology etc.
• Majority of research projects on foreign flowers- As earlier said the majority of research projects are on foreign flowers. But very little work is being carried out on traditional flowers.
• By this kind of discrimination slowly and steadily we are losing our indigenous flora, flowers those are available in Western ghats. Many beautiful flowers are available in indigenous flora. We need to exploit, breed and showcase them as these beautiful flowers are on the verge of extinction. So, by breeding methods we can save them, domesticate them and bring in the international market.

• Entire poly-house materials were imported including bolts and nuts with entire varieties were imported by paying hefty royalty. Indian soil is contaminated with pesticides and hefty amounts have been paid towards consultancy fees and millions of dollars has been spent as foreign exchange.
• Crores of rupees as given as loans and most of the units have been closed declared as sick industries with only few growers have been benefited at the cost of thousands of small and marginal farmers.
• Most of the huge poly-house, which could not export, started disposing their products at throwaway price in the big cities, which affected small and marginal farmers who were solely depended on this, which creates the social imbalance.

• Establishment of model nurseries- The establishment of model floricultural nurseries is very important for timely supply of quality planting material.
• Co-operative florist organizations- Like cut flower growers' association there is also need to establish co-operative societies for traditional flower growers. This will help for minimum support price.
• Planning and monitoring effective quality control measures- This is very important from quality point of view. As we keep close vigil on hi-tech flowers we also need to keep the same on traditional flowers.
• Analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in these floriculture industries.

• Large-scale multiplication of elite cultivars of chrysanthe mum through soft wood cuttings and many other.
• Development of Model Floriculture Villages (MCFs)
• A complete production capsule to farmers for large scale cultivation.

• Fragrance to crossandra, aster
• Colour to jasmine, tuberose, aster, marigold, chrysanthe mum
• Studies on improvement in vase life of traditional flowers
• Dry flower technology and its dissemination
• Development of varieties in different crops like tuberose, jasmine, hibiscus, rose, aster, chrysanthemum, crossandra.
• Package of practice of individual crop including minor flowers.
• Exploration of wild flowers and commercialization, domestication and marketing in the international level.
• Dry land floriculture via bringing more area under traditional floriculture.
• extraction of chemicals which have pesticide properties e.g. pyrethrum
• Extraction of dyes from flowers viz., gomphrena, marigold, calendula, saffron etc.

• Tighter checking is required because some farmers sub mit fake projects to get subsidy.
• Government should supply continuous electric power and give more concession on it. Departments like APeDA, nHB and state horticulture departments are very effective now compared to the situation some five years back, more transparency has developed. now farmers will believe that all facilities are real.
• Domestic market growth is 25-30 per-cent. Right price to farmers and close vigil on daily prices. Availability of the information on daily prices helps to prevent farmers from cheating of agents and wholesalers.
• Farmers are always worried about the domestic market rates of flowers. During festivals and wedding seasons the rates are very high, but for the rest of the year the prices vary and are comparatively very low. If government could control the Value added tax (VAT) on cut flowers (presently 9-12%), and solve the marketing problems; farmers will be satisfied.
• Marketing is not fixed in India, However, in European countries maximum rate is given to the farmers. The loan with subsidies should be provided by government for building up the basic infrastructure of floriculture industry. In Kenya, flower export is among the top three forex earners. so, the government takes it seriously. In India, government considers forex earned by flower exports as chickenfeed.

• India is having a better scope in the future as there is a shift in trend towards tropical and traditional flowers and this can be gainfully exploited by us with high amount of diversity in indigenous flora.
• Specific attention is to be given to the development of traditional flowers by assisting traditional farmers in terms of bank loans, proper marketing facilities, and dissemination of information through training and media support on improved varieties.
• Hi-tech floriculture industry can be successful only if enough support is provided for procurement of genuine planting material either domestic or global and marketing of production by the government.