Floriculture in Northeast India: Special Reference to Nagaland

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The book "Floriculture in Northeast India: Special Reference to Nagaland" brings into light the production and marketing condition of cut flowers prevalent in the region giving special reference to the Sate of Nagaland. Floriculture in the region has emerged as a new agri-business especially after the inception of Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States (now Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture) which has popularized protected cultivation of flowers. Flower cultivation under controlled condition has increased productivity and improved the quality of flowers suitable for international market, attracting more farmers into floriculture activity in Nagaland. This book also highlights the constraints faced by the growers and retailers and suggests policy measures for further improvement of floriculture in Nagaland.

DR. KHRIEMENUO PUSA (b. 1987) is presently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics, St. Joseph's College (Autonomous) Jakhama, Nagaland. She obtained M.A from St. Joseph's College of Arts and Science (Autonomous) Bangalore and Ph.D from Nagaland University, Lumami. She has published articles and presented papers in various national and international seminars and conferences. Her area of interest includes Agricultural Economics and International Economics.

Commercialization of floriculture products with the introduction of modern technologies on production and marketing has made it one of the fastest growing segments of horticulture providing not only employment opportunities to the unemployed youth but also increasing returns to the farmers, wholesalers, retailers and other allied industries. Among the floriculture products cut flowers (fresh) and dry flowers forms the most important item where the global market mainly deals with it. The increasing demand for flower, both domestic and international, and the income earned by the global flower market encouraged the Indian Government and modern entrepreneurs to promote this industry. Soon this industry has been identified as a sunrise industry and accorded 100% export oriented status. A great deal of impetus has been given to this sector through the introduction of various developmental schemes to encourage Indian farmers as well as entrepreneurs to promote this sector in the country. Next to China, India has the largest area under floriculture production in the world, about 248.51 thousand HA in 2014-15 and export of floriculture produce from India was worth Rs. 450 crore (APEDA, 2016).

The North-Eastern and the Himalayan States of India were also concentrated to promote commercial floriculture due to its immense biodiversity and climate suitable for the cultivation of varieties of flowers as such Horticulture Mission for North-East and Himalayan states (HMNEH) was initiated in the year 2001-02. Various developmental programmes were also initiated through the Central Institute of Horticulture, Indian Council of Agricultural Research and State Horticulture Departments to provide technical knowledge and quality planting materials to promote floriculture in the region. With this, cultivation of flowers in Nagaland for commercial purpose started during the year 2004-05 under HMNEH scheme. Flower industry in Nagaland though is still in its infant stage is growing rapidly due to its suitable climatic conditions and fertile soil favourable for the cultivation of flowers of international standard which is now regarded as the main thrust areas for trade within and outside the State. During the initial years of the inception of this scheme the districts of Kohima, Mokokchung, Wokha and Dimapur were selected for commercial production of flowers but were later expanded to the remaining districts of the State. For the present study, the districts of Dimapur and Kohima have been selected keeping in view the differences in climatic conditions, geographical location and the maximum concentration of flower production and marketing in these two districts. Purposive sampling technique has been adopted to select 255 respondents from the study area, of which 225 are flowers growers and 30 are flower retailers. Five cut flowers grown under poly house have been selected for the study, namely, Alstroemeria, Lilium and Rose in Kohima and Anthurium and Gerbera in Dimapur. Growers from the selected districts has been classified according to the flower they produce i.e. in Kohima district 52 growers are growing Alstroemeria, 50 are growing Lilium and 37 are growing Rose and in Dimapur district, 46 growers are growing Anthurium and 40 growers are cultivating Gerbera. Multiple regression has been applied to test the efficiency of the independent variables on production.

The study has been carried out with the following main objectives i.e., to analyze the trends in area, production and yield of floricultural crops in selected districts of Nagaland; to study the infrastructural facilities available for floriculture development in selected districts in Nagaland; to examine the problems and prospects associated with flower producers/growers in selected districts in Nagaland; to assess the trends in domestic flower markets and marketing problems connected with flower retailers in selected districts; and to suggest policy measures for producers and retailers of cut flowers in Nagaland. Keeping these objectives in mind the following hypotheses have been framed i.e., development of floriculture sector will improve the income levels of growers and retailers in Nagaland. availability of land holdings, capital, labour and market prices are the major factors determining production and productivity of cut flowers than education and experience of flower growers; and transportation and investment on technology enhances the market potentiality in the state of Nagaland.