Floriculture wilts as temperatures soar, water scarcity adds to misery.
However, this summer being extra harsh, export activities have taken a hit.
According to data available with the Union Ministry of Agriculture, the total value of the floriculture business has come down from Rs 460.76 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 306.95 crore in 2015-16.
Karnataka accounts for a large portion of the floriculture business in the country with a total cultivated area of 30,900 hectares, followed by Tamil Nadu which has a cultivated area of 55,000 hectares of floriculture.
The bud size of the flowers have become small because of the heat and, hence, cannot be exported.
While previously Karnataka used to cater to the demand for roses in Australia and New Zealand, this market, too, has come down because of the quality of produce having gone down, said Anne Ramesh, member of International Flower Auction Bangalore and president of South India Florist Association.
The number of roses exported by us every month stand at nothing less than 1.5 million pieces.
However, at the moment, it is not more than 10,000,” she said.
Owing to drought and the climate change, over the past two years, production has been affected a lot,” said Sharath Hittalamane, retired additional director of horticulture.
Due to water scarcity, production has almost come to a standstill, he said.

Tanzania: Water Scarcity Threatens Horticulture Industry.
Speaking to the ‘Sunday News’ yesterday, they said the declining water levels also threaten the country’s future food security prospects and calls for immediate action to manage the resource well.
Mr Paul said that when it comes to water scarcity in the past three years; some areas of the country have at times faced acute water shortages.
"As a result, some farm-ers lost crops due to drought.
During heavy rains – infra-structure was destroyed by floods," he explained.
Procedures and processes for sustainable management and development of water in Tanzania are stipulated in the 2009 Water Resources Management Act.
Horticulture though is gradually becoming the main activity in these remote areas, where approximately 300,000 farmers are in dire need of water to irrigate their crops; there is no specific legislation to govern the rural water sub-sector.
"This has resulted into uncontrolled use of water that is not only inhibiting horticultural productivity, but also fuelling conflicts, most-ly compounded by rights to access the resource in Arusha, Kilimanjaro and Tanga regions," Mr Paul explains in his paper presented at a one-day water stakeholders’ dia-logue meeting held in Arusha.
TAHA Chief Executive Officer, Jacqueline Mkindi said the Fifth Phase Government’s industrialisa-tion policy was a blessing to horticultural farmers whose local market will be expanded as a result of crops processing plants to be put up at their disposal.
She said the industry, which currently employs about 2.5 million horticul-tural farmers, 60 per cent of them being women, will attract 10 million farmers in five year-time as a result of TAHA’s five-year strategy.