A few years ago the Union agriculture ministry had prepared a blueprint for either disbanding NHB or bringing all floriculture-related operations under one body. This was discussed at the International Conference on Commercial Floriculture held in Bangalore in August last year, sponsored by the UN Food & Agriculture Organisation. The meet was attended, among others, by the agriculture secretary, Bhaskar Barua, the Karnataka horticulture minister, Allam Abhadroppa, and flower exporters.

According to FM Poonawala of the Maharashtra-based Fila Rozil Exports, the WTO agreement on agriculture has adversely affected Indian floriculture. At present, an Indian floricultural exporter has to furnish 24 certificates before starting his operations. These include land records, building plan of the greenhouse and accessories, certificate of incorporation, NOC from the gram panchayat concerned, certificates showing that promoters are agriculturists, approval plan, etc.

An exporter has to deal with three different ministries at the same time- the Agricultural Produce Export Development Authority (Apeda) under the commerce ministry, NHB of the agriculture ministry and financial institutions under the finance ministry.

Delegates at the Bangalore meet, both Indian and foreign, resented the fact that non-European Union (EU) nations did not have royalty laws chargeable from importers of cut flowers. As a result, Indian exporters have to pay duty ranging between 13 and 17 per cent, depending upon the season. It is for this reason that Indian horticulturists are losing markets in Europe during the peak season, it was felt.

In this background, floriculture industry observers feel it is surprising as to why the NHB and the commerce ministry did not visualise these a problems while joining the WTO. They feel the agriculture minister, Nitish Kumar, was right in questioning why the then agriculture minister Balram Jakhar preferred to locate the NHB headquarters at Gurgaon and how executive directors at that time recorded on official files that "Pune, Hyderabad and Gurgaon were potentially the most well suited to promote protected greenhouse grown cut-flowers for exports."

In this connection, a recent official enquiry is believed to have pointed out that out of the nearly 60 cut-flower projects, mostly Indo-Dutch collaborative units financed/promoted by NHB and Apeda support, most are either on paper or have not even gone into production. Some have either closed down or are on the verge of closure.

These corporates were advanced roughly Rs 50 crore as subsidised soft- and long-term finance for various purposes. The enquiry report is stated to be a "classified" document and the officers of the NHB who promoted these projects have since retired.

Prominent among projects that have either closed down or yet to take off is Jain Flora on Sohna-Ballabgarh Road where, it is alleged, that not a flower has been grown. However, the Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC) has purchased some shares of Jain Flora on premium. The promoter is believed to have announced that he would soon launch his own airways. Krishma Floriculture, owned by SN Bansal, which was in the news a decade back when its scrip was in great demand, has acquired a big chunk of land but the project is yet to see the light of day.

Kuber, the multi-faceted finance company, too, ventured into floriculture with Dutch collaboration and NHB funds. A few greenhouses were put up and some roses were planted. This was followed by the setting up of a cold store for cut-flowers on a farm near the Bilaspur Chowk, close to the Country Club. But this closed down as well.

NHB scientists admitted that high cost of financing was an impediment to floriculture. Repayment of loans, they feel, should be staggered to 15 years. Also, the interest for corpus funds for floriculture should be 4 per cent. Further, the amount of loans for floriculture units available from Nabard/ IDBI/ ICICI/ commercial banks/ NHB/ Apeda etc. and the promoters' own funds requires to be raised.

According to Haryana's horticulture minister, Jaswinder Singh, air freight on flower cargo, at 30 per cent to 40 per cent of the cost of consignment, is too steep. Though Apeda subsidises this freight by 25 per cent, the procedure for availing this facility is cumbersome. Regretably, no airline is prepared to accept flower cargo at TATA rates, he says.

Floriculturists also insist that like other agricultural and export- oriented units, there should be a comprehensive insurance for flower farming too. The chief minister, Om Prakash Chautala, is reported to have requested to the Centre that floricultural income be treated as agricultural income for the purpose of taxation.

All these issues notwithstanding, questions are being raised about why the annual reports of NHB, Apeda etc. are not being made public. Is NHB's job restricted to bringing out a database of selected fruits and vegetables and sell them at prohibitive rates? The net outcome is that growers and consumers are the losers, and wholesalers, stockers and retailers stand to gain. And of course, a section of the officials of the state farm produce marketing boards and agricultural produce market committees.

The problem has taken a new turn as the state, which is facing a problem of plenty as far as traditional crops like foodgrain, sugarcane, oilseeds and pulses are concerned, is witnessing a shift in cropping pattern. Farmers have started heeding the advise of scientists and have started switching over to commercial crops like fruits, vegetables, flowers etc.

However, the productivity per unit of most fruits, vegetables, loose flowers continues to be stagnant. The net amount that the farmer receives after costly inputs is less than expected. It still remains to be seen what the country's prestigious research institutes, farm universities and farm experts are doing to solve this problem.