Floriculture getting popular

by Dhaneshi YATAWARA

Flower growers need to select different varieties of plants to grow in order to meet the demand in the world market, said Dr. Shalomi Krishnarajah, Deputy Director on Floriculture Research of the Department of Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya. "There is a heavy demand in the world market for cut leaves and to meet this local growers need to pay more attention to grow suitable foliage," Dr. Krishnarajah said.

"The world markets change from time to time and we need long term projections to keep the trade viable," she said. As she explained flower and foliage trade is a challenging business that requires a lot of quality control and climate sensitive.

"Fortunately Sri Lanka has a conducive environment to grow foliage except in areas like Nuwara Eliya which would be too cold," she said.

The world market highly demands plants such as 'Dracaena sanderiana', Cordyline species and Chinese Grass.

Under Economic Development Ministry's Divi Neguma program floriculture is getting popular as a household industry. "Under this program we will be issuing shade nets to small and medium scale growers in order to help them upgrade the quality of their products and earn a better income," she said.