State of Floriculture in Maharashtra: A Case Study of Floriculturists in Pune District

The study conducted in and around Dehu Road in Pune district of Maharashtra has looked into the status of floriculturists and has presented a comparative picture of floriculture units financed by State Bank of India and NPA polyhouse units. For study, the primary data were collected from the floriculturists in and around Dehu Road and secondary data were collected from various institutions. The study has observed that most of the florists practise protected flowers cultivation as a secondary business and devote less attention to it. Some other problems, revealed by these florists, included high initial investment, poor plant material, high plant mortality, incidence of soil-born diseases, low price, limited market facilities, etc. The study has made some recommendations which may help in increasing the business and consequently, income of these florists.