A Career in Floriculture
Horticulture is the science and art of growing, producing, marketing, and utilizing high-value, garden crops, generally fruits, vegetables, herbs and ornamental plants in a sustainable manner. The plants, crops, and green spaces created as part of horticulture help to sustain and enrich our lives by providing healthy food, beautifying our homes and communities, and lowering our carbon footprint. Horticulture farming aims to enhance the quality of life, as well as the beauty, sustainability, and recovery of our ecosystem and the human condition. However, horticulture does not involve large-scale crop production, unlike agriculture. It also emphasizes the use of small plots with diverse mixed crops, while agriculture focuses on a single large primary crop at a time. Examples of horticulture include the following:
- Landscaping
- Gardening
- Growing crops for food, fiber, and fuel
- Horticultural therapy—using horticultural methods to treat patients
- Arboriculture—the care of trees
There are four types of horticulture. These are:
- Olericulture
Olericulture which deals with the production, storage, processing, and marketing of vegetables. The term vegetable is applied to edible herbaceous plants or parts, commonly used for culinary purposes. - Pomology
Pomology which is the study of fruit, specifically the science of growing fruit and nuts. It is also called fruticulture. - Viticulture
Viticulture which is the science, production, and study of grapes. It deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard including monitoring and controlling pests and diseases, fertilizing, irrigation, canopy management, monitoring fruit development and characteristics, deciding when to harvest, and vine pruning. - Floriculture
Floriculture which is concerned with growing and marketing flowers and ornamental plants as well as with flower arrangement. It also includes cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for use as raw materials in cosmetic and perfume industry and in the pharmaceutical sector.
Among all these types of horticulture, floriculture is the one with the most potential from the aesthetic, economic and social point of view. It has the potential for generating employment opportunities round-the-year and earning foreign exchange. Let us take a closer look at floriculture in India.
Floriculture is an age-old farming activity in India having immense potential for generating gainful selfemployment among small and marginal farmers. In the recent years it has emerged as a profitable agribusiness in India and worldwide as improved standards of living and growing consciousness among the citizens across the globe to live in environment friendly atmosphere has led to an increase in the demand of floriculture products in the developed as well as in the developing countries worldwide.
In India, floriculture industry comprises flower trade, production of nursery plants and potted plants, seed and bulb production, micro propagation and extraction of essential oils. The industry comprises of flowers such as Rose, Tuberose, Gladioli, Anthurium, Carnations, Marigold etc. Cultivation is undertaken in both open farm conditions as well as state-of-the-art polyhouses and greenhouses.
India has several agro-climatic zones conducive for production of sensitive and delicate floriculture products. Floriculture is now commercially cultivated in several states with Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Madhya Pradesh having gone ahead of other producing states like Karnataka, West Bengal, Mizoram, Gujarat, Orissa, Jharkhand, Haryana, Assam and Chhattisgarh. After liberalization the Government of India identified floriculture as a sunrise industry and accorded it 100 percent export-oriented status. The liberalization of industrial and trade policies paved the way for the development of export-oriented production of cut flowers. The new seed policy has already made it feasible to import planting material of international varieties. As a result, here has been a transition in the floriculture industry as a commercial business venture with high market value and real opportunities.
A floriculturist is a professional who focuses on the cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens, floral industry and for export. These professional studies, grows and cares for flowering plants, develops their new varieties, manages their post-harvest treatment and the production of flower products. They also perform various tasks such as wild harvesting and commercial flower production, flower seed production, leaf and essential oil crop production, and plant product manufacture. A floriculturist can be working for government horticultural departments, private sector organisations in the business of flower production and marketing, or have an own independent business.
The floriculturist is responsible for:
- Meeting with potential clients, retail and market-drive people to discuss orders.
- Assisting with nursery operations.
- Monitoring and regulating temperature and humidity of plant houses.
- Propagating, growing and marketing of all cut flowers, flower seeds and seedlings.
- Growing bulbs.
- Treating diseases through chemical protection of plants.
- Facilitating post-harvesting storage of raw materials and products.
- Handling preservatives.
- Keeping records.
- Working within budgets, keeping books, sending out invoices, collecting monies
| Education Pathway | ||
|---|---|---|
| Undergraduate | Post-Graduate | Some Colleges |
|
B.Sc (Floriculture and
Landscaping) B.Sc in Floriculture |
M.Sc (Floriculture and
Landscaping) M.Sc (Floriculture Business Management) |
|
