Development of commercial floriculture in Asia and the pacific-issues, challenges and opportunities

The main production centers of floriculture in asia are: Japan, growing for the domestic market, India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Malaysia, Korea and China. Japan is one of the four (Netherlands, Unites States and Italy) the major producers of both flowers and potted plants, but its production is mainly for the domestic market. Due to this positive environment, the total area under floriculture in India increased from about 30,000 ha to about 45,000/ 50,000 ha in 1995. About 30% of this area is used for products for the export markets. The rest is more focused on traditional flowers for the domestic market. Throughout the Asia, the production of ornamental products is rising. In traditional production areas such as Thailand and Malaysia, production is more and more orientated to the Japanese and (for special products like orchids) European marketed. In Thailand, more than 7,000 his under cultivation for cut flower production. Production is increasing in the newly developing countries such as Vietnam and China. Opportunities for cut flower development in Asia with respect to production are not location dependent, meaning that any area of Southeast Asia should be able to capture significant cut flower production opportunity if pursued. In present and future commercial floriculture markets, production opportunities exist if the goal is to reliably produce high quality product in consistent quantities can be attained. Pakistan is a country of small farming households, where, floriculture the best option for enhancing the income of the under privileged. Introduction of Floriculture crops could be an important intervention in this regard where the farmer can earn much more by exploiting available natural resources more efficiently. We have favourable climate and cheap labor for growing these crops whereas they need much less land and water for their production. These crops also give p remium prices almost round the year and there is no need to wait for a long time as in the case of other routine crops. Net profit against the investment in much higher from these crops compared with other conventional crops. Government should also sharpen policies and private initiatives, to make it a significant player in the world trade of floricultural products. However, a carefully thought out strategy has to be adopted to build on its strengths and enhance its share of the world trade.