A rose by any other name, is still a rose. The fragrance, however, is a whole different bouquet of flowers; pardon the pun.
A rose by any other name, is still a rose. The fragrance, however, is a whole different bouquet of flowers; pardon the pun.
Toshimasa Namba has been importing roses of all colours from India into Japan for over a decade. Why? Because he believes that Indian flowers just smell so much better. For Namba, the economies of freight and lower prices have strengthened his ties with two rose farms — one located at Pune and the other in Bangalore.
He has been importing, on an average, 10 million rose stems each year, from these farms. He also imports around 1.5 million and 2.5 million roses from Ecuador and Kenya, respectively.
While Valentine's Day may not have the Japanese rushing to the nearest Hallmark store, March is wedding season on the islands, and that's his target market. And, according to Namba, Japanese couples can't get enough of the fresh fragrance of India.
Navneesh Sharma, chief of the Agriculture Produce Export Development Marketing Authority (APEDA), told DNA: "This year, the cold wave resulted in frost collection, and the production of horticultural produce, including roses, has been low. Last year's figures of fresh flower exports in February 2007, amounted to Rs121 crore. By March end, on the back of demand from Japan - to meet the requirement of bridal exports from India - it had jumped to Rs342 crore."
For Anirudh Sonawne, a trader in rose export, Valentine's Day has kept him busy, and he only just managed to dispatch his last batch of red roses to the UK, on Friday night. Sonawane has sent a total of 8,000,000 red roses to the UK since February 1, 2008.
Former Congress MLA SR Patil's son Gopinath — who runs Srivardhan Biotech Ltd (SBL) - has made rose cultivation his principle occupation and has 60 acres, green-housed in the Shiroli Taluka in the Kolhapur district.
According to Gopinath, while he does cultivate other flowers like Carberra, Carnations, Caesium, Orchids, Shevanti and Lillium — as well as filler material for bouquets intended for the local market — his rose exports accounted for 80 million stems in the fiscal year 2006-2007.
"We export predominantly to Japan, Italy and Australia," said Gopinath. "This year, we will be exporting nearly one crore rose stems."
According to APEDA statistics, India has a market share of less than one per cent in the global fresh cut flower trade. The exports in this segment has increased at the rate of 17 per cent annually since 1996-1997, and reached Rs299.41 crore in the fiscal year 2005-2006.
The Indian thrust in the global rose market is still at a nascent stage, compared with African countries like Kenya, where 3000 hectares of land is under rose cultivation, as compared with only 100 hectares in India being exclusively used for rose cultivation.
But Namba's still a fan: "The fact is, that even though Indian roses are smaller in size, they are price effective (costing 30 to 40 yen per flower) compared to the Kenyan roses (80 yen) or the Ecuadorian rose (100 yen). In addition the distance between India and Japan is shorter effectively translating into lower freight charges."
Of course the irony may be evident to all but a few, that while some elements in Maharashtra tend to frown on Valentine's Day and all it entails, the state's rose-growers are poised to make a killing in the international arena.
a_renni@dnaindia.net
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