Research and development and innovations in floriculture: lessons from the market giants for developing countries like Sri Lanka

Abstract

Floriculture has become one of the growing industries in the present world. In the year 2013, the global floriculture exports reached US$ 21.6 billion while showing a 22% increase over the past five years. Sri Lanka being a small island, has not shown a rapid growth in the floriculture business over the past five years, the country has been a continuous supplier of floriculture produce to the world market, reaching its total floriculture trade value worth Rs. 14.1 million in 2013. Among the floriculture assortment that the country produces for the world market at present, cut foliage/tops (~53%), live plants including rooted cuttings (~44%), cut flowers (~1.5%) and flower seeds (~1%) are the four main items, dried flowers and other decorative floriculture items also in minor quantities. One of the biggest constraints that Sri Lanka faces is the insufficient investments on large scale floriculture ventures, making most of the businesses medium- to small-scale. To thrive in the global business the scale of production matters. Moreover, we have mostly been depending on the available varieties for ages. Therefore, it is high time for the country to think about the competitive novel varieties. Even though the people are knowledgeable with higher literacy rates, until now, the postharvest handling of floricultural produce has not been practiced satisfactorily. Besides, the facilities available for training, research and innovation are insufficient to support the growth of the industry.