Economics of Production and Marketing of Rose in Karnataka

Rose being a perennial crop with an economic life span of 10 years, requires around Rs 57500 for establishing the garden in one hectare of land. The major item of input cost being planting and planting material. From second year onwards around Rs 22000 to Rs 27000/ha was required for maintaining the garden depending upon the age group. The rose crop is highly labour intensive and requires large number of labourers for harvesting and weeding operations. The total cost of cultivation which includes fixed and marketing costs was around Rs 53000 to 56000/ha. The rose crop gave a good return of nearly Rs 36000 to Rs 75000/ha over maintenance cost. Though field sales was practiced by a sizable number of cultivators (34 per cent) due to reasons like lack of time, small quantity, risk at the market, it is not desirable as it results in foregoing huge income. High commission charges (62 per cent of marketing costs) is the main problem faced in the market sales. The investment in rose crop was found to be economically sound as it gave a benefit-cost-ratio of 1.7 to 1.8 with hardly 2 to 3 years pay back period depending upon the channel of sale.