A horticulturist from Lilipura village in Karjan taluka has taken up an initiative to export locally grown Dutch roses to USA. Rakesh Patel’s move is likely to boost the flower’s market in central Gujarat as well.

Unlike, south Gujarat, green houses are not popular among the farmers in central Gujarat. Patel and some other farmers are trying to bring this trend in this region.

Manhar Patel, Deputy Directory, Horticulture, Vadodara, said: “Farmers have only recently started using greenhouses in central Gujarat, which help maintain temperature and humidity for the Dutch rose. This is very common in south Gujarat, where districts like Bardoli and Navsari have over 100 greenhouses. They are making profits there.”

Rakesh Patel directly deals with a Mumbai-based company that distributes Gerbera, and has now started growing the Dutch rose too.

He told Newsline, “Recently, I visited USA to get an idea about the Dutch rose market there. Indian farmers have a lot of scope in exporting the flower. I underwent training in floriculture at Talegaon in Pune. We have now planted 16,000 Dutch rose plants in an area of 1,700 square metres in Lilipura. We have planned our strategy in a way so that we can have results by November. We are culturing Dutch roses for the first time in the area. If there is a problem in November, we can improve on that. This time we have some dealers who export flowers to USA, but from next year, we may start full-fledged Dutch rose export.”

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