I am developing 6 greenhouses of 1 acre each in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
I have planned to cultivate Rose, Gerbera & Gladiolus in these greenhouses.
I am yet to finalise on the variety and sources of these flowers.
My key factors for considering these varieties are:
Stable prices & demand
Fast Growth
Kindly provide feedback on my choice of flowers and also suggest varieties of these flowers which have a stable demand in Indian market. I am also open to suggestions of other fruits or flowers.
It seems you have a finger on the trigger, but are not sure of the target. Please take my comment in the right spirit. You are saying that you are delveloping (means have already decided) to go in for not 1 or 2 but 6 1 acre greenhouses for floriculture. While that may so, you seem to have not researched the subject adequately…
What you need to do is find the markets for flowers, and then plan your cultivation accordingly. Suggest you visit the intended flower market, and get an idea of what flowers sell, their prices and the seasons they are in demand. Gerbera is easier to grow, while rose cultivation in a greenhouse is not recommended at the first attempt. It requires much technical knowhow and roses are not easy to grow.
Also you seek stable prices. The prices for agricultural commodity flucutuate greatly. Prices of flowers is based on demand, and the demand is based on the seasons : basically festivals or marriage.
Thanks for your response. You have summed it up very precisely. I have no technical know-how of the field and have lately been doing a lot of farm visits to gain knowledge. As suggested by you, I will very soon plan a market visit to assess the ground situation.
I had been relying on some scientists who were acting as consultants for the whole venture. However, few events forced me to validate my belief in them.
As for the stage of my project, the greenhouses are under construction and would be ready by end of May. I have some inputs on the flowers I chose and intend to work with Carnation along with Roses, Gerbera and Gladiolus.
Would you be able to refer an experienced Floriculturist in North India who could guide me with this?
May I suggest that it is even now not too late to re-evaluate your project. A poly house of 1 acre should give an average yield of say 8000 to 10000 gerbera flowers a day. Imagine 6 acres of poly house producing 50,000 to 60,000 flowers. This is a huge production and unless you have definite marketing arrangements, this is doomed to fail. What would be best is to start with 1000 sq.m poly houses, which would be better to manage in size. You can make a beginning with one variety and learn the art of growing flowers. Then keep expanding as you gain experience and also confidence. Once you are familiar with the market realities and comfortable with the produce, you can move or diversify into other flowers. Please keep in mind that we can only climb one step at a time, and anything more ambitious is fraught with grave danger and financial ruin. Even if you have committed to anybody that you intend to go in for 6 acres, you can phase it out. Another aspect, I hope you have availed bank loans to finance the project, as investing such huge sums from own funds will be very difficult. Please do not put the whole project at risk. Kindly do not think that I am trying to discourage you, but only asking you to take it slow and steady.
As you are a newbie, technical assistance is important. So is choosing the right consultant. But here, you need to be careful. It’s like me going to a broker to take his ‘honest’ opinion. Should I buy a house, is the timing right.? The broker earns his bread and butter by selling houses. Even if he knows the answer should be no, he will try to give the reasons why you should invest in real-esate. Hence, do not take the ‘expert’ view as the final truth. Do your own groundwork, and verify the information for yourself.
Also, suggest you take independent view from different vendors and consultants. Each will try to flog you his product and services being the best. You need to ascertain the veracity of advice you receive. Ideally a basis of comparison should be thru visits to other farms.
You have 6 acres of polyhouses, which is a large scale undertaking. If possible now, try to stagger the project so that they come up gradually. Farming is a learning process, there will be many unknowns and surprises that you will need to handle. However, what issues come up in one polyhouse, can be easily handled in the other, and similarly, if an issue were to happen in a larger project, you can be held in a limbo.
You can try to diversify your product : Instead of only flowers, try capsicum, coloured capsicum, tomatoes and cucumber.
I strongly suggest you take up the 3 day training and farm visit conducted by KVK, Baramati. It is being held in May, and cost only Rs. 4,000/- It will be money and time well spent. There are lectures regarding soil science, pest and disease management, cultivation and management of floricultural products and high value vegetables and also on marketing and market-timing. More details below :