MSc

The floriculture sector has seen tremendous growth and development in recent decades, and has established itself as a lucrative business with high potential for returns. The total area under floriculture in India has increased from 106 to 307 thousand hectares between 2000 to 2020, along with an increase in production from 505 to 2994 metric tonnes. India is bestowed with diverse agro-climatic zones conducive to the production of various floriculture products including cut foliage, which are directly used for decoration purpose as well as fillers in floral arrangements. The export value of fresh foliage, branches, grasses, mosses, dried and dyed flowers (₹311.5 crores) accounted to 44 per cent of the total export value of floriculture products (₹707.8 crores) from India in the year 2022-23. The highly congenial tropical climatic conditions in Kerala characterized by adequate sunshine, high levels of humidity and abundant rainfall has favoured the commercial cultivation of cut foliage in the state.
The present study was carried out with the objectives of analysing the economics and resource use efficiency in cut foliage production; identifying the marketing channels and working out the economics in marketing, and determining the major constraints in production and marketing of cut foliage. Three major cut foliage crops grown in Kerala were selected for the study, namely, Dracaena fragrans cv. massangeana, Dracaena reflexa ‘Song of India’ and Drcaena reflexa ‘Song of Jamaica’. The study was based on primary data collected from 30 sample respondents from each crop in Malappuram and Ernakulam districts, making the total sample size to 90. Primary data was also collected from 5 traders and 2 exporters through personal interview method using a structured and pre-tested interview schedule.
The cost and returns for the three cut foliage crops were estimated by separately working out the establishment and maintenance costs. The crops were perennial in nature with an economic life span of around 15 years with the first year as the establishment phase and the remaining as the maintenance period which was further divided into yield increasing phase (2 to 5 years), yield stabilizing phase (5 to 10 years) and yield declining phase (10 to 15 years). The total cost of cultivation was worked out as ₹2,83,866, ₹1,92,074 and ₹1,90,326 per hectare for Dracaena fragrans cv.


massangeana, Dracaena reflexa ‘Song of India’ and Dracaena reflexa ‘Song of Jamaica’ respectively. While, the net returns for these crops were ₹6,76,092, ₹4,47,926 and ₹5,09,674 per hectare respectively.
The resource use efficiency in cut foliage production was analysed using Cobb- Douglas production function. The age of plants and human labour were found to be significant and positively influencing the yield of all the three crops. The value of coefficient of determination (R2) were 0.77, 0.72 and 0.73 for Dracaena fragrans cv. massangeana, Dracaena reflexa ‘Song of India’ and Drcaena reflexa ‘Song of Jamaica’, respectively, which indicated an overall good fit model for all the three crops. The ratio of Marginal Value Product (MVP) to Marginal Factor Cost (MFC) was found to be less than one for all the significant inputs in the three crops which denoted excess utilization of the inputs.
Four marketing channels were identified for Dracaena fragrans cv. massangeana, while three channels were identified for Drcaena reflexa ‘Song of India’ and Dracaena reflexa ‘Song of Jamaica’. The marketing efficiency was worked out using Shepherd’s index and for all the three crops, channel II (Producers- Florists outside the state- consumers) was found to be the most efficient one with highest marketing efficiency with values 2.49, 4.09 and 3.26 for the three crops respectively.
The constraints faced in the production and marketing of cut foliage were analysed using Garett ranking technique. The major constraints confronted by cut foliage farmers in production were high cost of planting materials, followed by high labour charges and lack of training and technical expertise. The major marketing constraints included non-availability of cold storage facilities, irregular demand and low price for the produce. In order to overcome these constraints and strengthen the cut foliage industry, ensuring the availability of quality planting materials at affordable rates, better infrastructure for cold storage, packing and transportation, providing practical trainings on the production techniques, financial and technical support from the Government to the sector are suggested.