Greenhouse Floriculture Supplychain in India

Abstract

Greenhouses are generally constructed in the cold countries so as to prevent plants from cold temperatures. Some tropical and sub – tropical countries have also started to construct greenhouses with different material and these are called poly houses due to high temperatures in these countries. The level of automation depends on the type of greenhouse. In general western greenhouses are completely automated and in countries like India poly houses are semi – automated so as to reduce cost. The objective of the project is to evaluate greenhouse qualitative and quantitative in comparison with open filed cultivation. It forecasts the future demand for flowers, price fluctuation and to understand different costs involved in each stage of the supply chain. With these objectives a survey was conducted with different supply chain partners’ viz. farmers, traders, retailers and customers. The customers were surveyed to understand different attributes for which they look for during purchase and the influence of the greenhouse on these attributes. The greenhouse floriculture is evaluated qualitatively in comparing the pros and cons of open cultivation. Two flower crops viz. Dutch rose and Gerbera are considered for quantitative evaluation as rose is the most important flower crop. Cost – Benefit analysis, NPV and IRR for these two flowers crops were calculated. The project has negative NPV and very low IRR( < 8%) when invested by an individual of an organization, but under considering 65% subsidy the project looks attractive and viable with high positive NPV and with around 70% IRR. The demand and the price variance in Jodhpur flower market was considered to analyze the flower market. The demand forecast was done only with data starting from 2009 – 10 as there was sudden increase in the production of the flowers with change in government policies. The data reflected the market for all the flowers and the demand is high during festivals and weddings. However the cut flower data of roses in Bangalore market showed that the price of roses shot up by 4 – 5 times one day before valentine day with high demand and supply. The prices, demand and supply are at peak during hallmark festivals like Valentine’s Day, Friendship day, etc. Final conclusions were made based on the data analysis.