Mysuru: A day-long industry meeting for the Floriculture mission on the theme ‘Advancing Floriculture, Opportunities and Sustainability’ was held at CSIR-CFTRI in city recently where stakeholders of the floriculture business participated.

Manjunath Angadi, Deputy Director of the Department of Horticulture, inaugurated the meet along with Dr. Sridevi Annapurna Singh, Director of CSIR-CFTRI and other dignitaries.

Dr. P. Giridhar, Chief Scientist and Nodal Scientist for the Floriculture Mission & Head, FSAQCL in his opening remarks stated that the primary goal of the Floriculture Mission in India is to significantly enhance farmers’ income by promoting high-value floriculture through advanced cultivation techniques, development of new flower varieties, value-added products and capacity building. Along with CSIR-NBRI, the nodal centre for this mission, other labs such as CFTRI, Mysuru, CIMAP, Lucknow, IHBT, Palampur and NEIST, Jorhat are actively involved. He further shared insights about the floriculture project, discussing its goals and achievements at the national level in its first and second phases.

R.S. Matche, Chief Scientist and Head of Food Packaging Technology Department, addressed the meeting’s theme, focusing on cold chain management for Mysuru Mallige. He emphasised the need for field trials in collaboration with the State Government and highlighted CFTRI’s work on a new formula ‘Freshness Keeper’ that helps extend the freshness of cut flowers. A short video showcasing CFTRI’s activities  related to the floriculture project was screened.

Manjunath Angadi, who was the chief guest, spoke about the importance of floriculture in Karnataka and suggested that scientists connect with farmers to inform them about new developments. This knowledge can help farmers adopt better flower   varieties and improve their profitability. He noted that India is the second largest producer of floriculture crops after China, yet the export potential was below six percent.

He encouraged exploring different agro climates across India, which are well-suited for various floriculture crops besides  mentioning that the State Government was considering applying artificial intelligence and automation in floriculture to address farmers’ challenges.

Dr.  Sridevi Annapurna Singh, in her presidential address, highlighted the potential benefits of floral pigments as food colours, the value addition to used flowers (conversion of waste to wealth), a purple revolution in Jammu & Kashmir through lavender cultivation and the development of high-quality flower varieties by various CSIR laboratories such as NBRI, CIMAP and IHBT.

The Scientists and students involved in a floriculture mission project from CFTRI and scientists from other labs Virat Abhishek and Shiv Kumar from CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, Dr. V. Sundaresan, CSIR-CIMAP in Lucknow, Dr.Tridip Phukan from CSIR-NEIST in Jorhat, along with industry stakeholders and others deliberated in this meet.

On the occasion, the cut-flower shelf-life-extending technology ‘Freshness Keeper’ was transferred to Suvarna Florex Limited, Hosur, Tamil Nadu.

CSIR-CFTRI and other CSIR labs displayed products and technologies developed from Floriculture mission.

A panel discussion on Market Opportunities and Industry Readiness and Stakeholder Collaboration and Sustainability was conducted.