It is Roses and Dollars at Hosur as Valentine's day approaches

As Valentine's Day approaches, it is literally raining roses and dollars in Hosur, the resourceful small town in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu, thanks to the burgeoning exports of roses which remain unaffected by global meltdown.
    
Come February 14, sweethearts across Europe, South East Asia, Australia, Middle East, Russia and CIS countries, perhaps, would greet each other on Valentine's Day with Indian roses, a vast majority of which was exported from Hosur.
    
Just a decade and half ago, Hosur region bordering Tamil Nadu and Karnataka was a barren land where farmers used to eke out living through rain fed crops like Ragi.
    
Then came the roses which grew in abundance here thanks to the salubrious climate that changed the landscape of the area and lives of farming community here.
    
Exports of cut roses from Hosur, which accounts for 80 per cent or Indian rose exports is likely to touch Rs 100 crore in the next five years from the present Rs 30 crore, Najeeb Ahmed, managing director, state run Tanflora, Infrastructure Park Limited, an agri export zone for roses in Hosur, said.

Ahmed said export of roses from Hosur area on Valentine's Day alone increased to three million in 2008 from one million in 2007. This Valentine's Day, rose exports were expected to touch five million, he said.
    
This year the roses will gain more popularity as two new varieties of roses -- Taj Mahal and Kohinoor -- have been introduced.
   
Thanks to high-tech floriculture, a vast stretch of barren land which mostly remained unused or used to grow rain-fed crops has now become a source of earning for farmers in the region.
   
Floriculture industry promoters in India have found the area that include hillock tracts of Ragaluur, Berigai, Kelamangalam, Denkanikotta, Amudhagondapalli, Sollagiri, Thally, Anchetty and Madhogondapalli most suitable for growing cut flowers, rose in particular, which is most sought after commodity in the global market, especially European countries.
   
The year-long salubrious climate prevailing in Hosur region, which is situated 3,000 feet above sea level, helps the farmers grow cut flowers adopting latest technology through green house plantation method, said V Chidambaram, horticulture officer of Krishnagiri District Horticulture Department.
   
He said around 250 government-assisted and 55 privately owned green house cutflower production units are located in Hosur and Denkanikotta area.

Now with the development of cut flower industry, farmers could export their produce the world over fetching huge foreign exchange,Ahmed said. He said the Tanflora project covers 50 hectares in Amudhagondapalli village near Hosur.
   
Around 1,50,000 stems of cutflowers could be produced covering 1,000 square metre of area under green house technology that would consume a capital investment of Rs eight lakh to nine lakh, Chidambaram said.
    
The government, through National Horticultural Mission, has been assisting the farmers to set up green house units. The government offers a subsidy of Rs.3.25 lakh to set up a unit covering 1,000 square metre.The government has already disbursed Rs eight crore as subsidy in the past three years for the farmers and plans to assist another 170 agricultural entrepreneurs this year in Hosur area, he said.
    
The floriculture activity has also driven up the land value in this area, said V Jairam Reddy, president of Saragapalli High-Tech Rose Growers Association (SHTRGA) in Thally panchayat union.Reddy said the land value that stood at Rs 1 to Rs.1.5 lakh per acre till three years ago has touched Rs.10 to Rs.15 lakh an acre last year due to mushrooming cut flower greenhouse units in the area.    

Reddy, a farmer himself, turned cut-rose producer two years ago after giving up vegetable cultivation. He said 28 farmers under SHTRGA are prodcing cut roses in Saragapalli village. The rose exporters from Bangalore, which is 40-km away from Hosur, procure roses from these small farmers.