Rosy future

Guwahati, Jan. 18: What’s common to Titanic, Tropical, Amazon and Gold Strike? A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet, but these are the varieties with which Mizoram is sniffing commercial success. Its horticultural project, the biggest rose project in eastern India, is all set to bloom gloriously in the world market.

Approved by the commerce ministry under its export development fund, the rose project will produce nearly 10,000 roses everyday, most of which will be exported. The project near Aizawl will be inaugurated next week and plucking of roses will commence within a couple of months.

The Centre is also introducing state-of-the art infrastructure in the form of cold rooms, which will preserve the roses before they are exported. “This will be the real transition for Mizoram from guns to roses,” a state horticulture department official pointed out.

After the end of insurgency in the state, Mizoram has earned the distinction of being an “isle of peace” in the trouble-torn Northeast. And the state’s salubrious climate has spawned a booming horticulture industry, which also produces passion fruit.

“These rose varieties — Titanic, Tropical, Amazon and Gold Strike — are symbols of love, beauty and peace,” said Rajesh Prasad, managing director of ZOPAR Exports Private Limited, which is setting up the project.

The rose facility is being set up at Vaipuanpho, 4,000 feet above sea level and 20 km from state capital Aizawl. There are natural springs in its vicinity.

Prasad said the good climatic conditions of Mizoram are ideal for rose cultivation and work will begin soon. “We are targeting the markets of West Asia, Japan and southeast Asia as export destinations for roses from here.”

The area that is being taken up for cultivation would initially cover a couple of hectares, with a post-harvest facility that will boast of cold rooms and grading halls.

Interestingly, the post-harvest facility will also be used by other farmers in the locality.

Some other popular rose varieties that will be grown include Wanted (red), Bordeaux (red) and Avalanche (white).

“We will grow those varieties which are the latest rage in the international market. The global market no longer accepts the old varieties,” explained Prasad, who had set up a rose project in Ethiopia in 2004. The African country is considered one of the best locations in the world for setting up floriculture units.

Prasad said he would import some planting material from Kenya and Ethiopia, which are today the fastest growing countries in the world as far as rose cultivation is concerned.

Nearly 50 people will be employed in the project, which will give a massive fillip to the floriculture industry in the Northeast.

Apart from roses, flowers such as anthurium, bird of paradise, gladiolus and chrysanthemum are grown successfully round the year in Mizoram.

The horticulture department has extensively taken up schemes in area expansion of anthurium and bird of paradise flowers with an export-oriented approach.