Indian Roses

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Dr.Ganesh Rao. Says

From old rose variety model which earn little revenue we need to graduate to premium rose variety models which would realize better revenues at the same operating cost.” Says Dr.Ganesh Rao.

 

Dr. Ganesh Rao

Moerheim Roses & Trading India Pvt. Ltd. is a subsidiary of a 120-year-old Dutch company, Moerheim Roses and Trading BV, which is in the business of supply of planting material and imparting technical assistance to floriculture projects worldwide.

The company is based in Bangalore. “Since completing my MBA about 20 years back, I have been involved in the Agri Business Industry. Thereafter I conducted an intensive study on the Prospects and Profitability of Export Oriented Agri Business in India. Subsequently I was awarded PhD Degree in the same about 10 years back. At present I am heading the Indian operations of my company Moerheim Roses and Trading India Pvt. Ltd and am also responsible for business operations in East Africa as well,” says Dr. Ganesh Rao is the regional head (South Asia and East Africa).

Speaking about the beginning of the company’s operations in India, Dr. Rao says, “In 1995 Indian growers were importing plant material from Holland and Africa at more than 10 times today’s cost. At that time, India did not have sources for good quality of Dutch rose – plants or bud wood material – required for making high quality plants in India. Import was the only available alternative.

Hence in 1995 we started a plant nursery with imported root stock and imported bud wood of many Dutch rose varieties. With this pioneering act we could service the grower – exporters with best quality of planting material at a very affordable rate.”

The company is an alliance of five international rose breeders viz, Kordes from Germany, Spek Rozen, Lex+ , Interplant Roses from Holland and Frank Roses from New Zealand.

“Our clients are Indian rose growers who also export these cut roses. Our main target customers are the Dutch rose growers all over the country who are not only catering to the export market but also to the vast untapped Indian market as well,” maintains Dr. Rao. He further adds, “Our main focus is serving the Indian rose exporters with better and better rose varieties. For this we bring in the rose varieties from European breeders every year which are as per the tastes and preferences of the Europeans and the Japanese markets. We test them in our various regional demo houses for a period of one year. Detailed observations and assessment are made from the point of view of their suitability to Indian conditions with regards to quality, productivity, transportability, disease susceptibility etc. The few varieties which pass the tests are introduced by us commercially in the Indian market through suitable regional growers.”

Moerheim operates through a network of associate consultants, associate nurseries and dealers who are situated in various floriculture pockets all over the country who are coordinated by the company’s marketing office based in Pune.

Export Market

Speaking about the growing export opportunities, Dr. Rao says, “Today the cost of growing roses is rising to a stage, when it is no more affordable to grow roses in Europe. A large number of farms are closing down each year in Europe, making way for better business opportunities. This has opened up bigger opportunities for floriculture in low cost economies like India more than ever before. But the demand is for new Dutch varieties,” adding, “However at the moment more than 75% of our Dutch rose varieties are unmarketable varieties. Hence our growers are having lesser sales realization than what they could otherwise get.”

Best Markets for Indian Roses

The best market for Indian roses for the past decade has been Japan. However there are also interesting markets in UK, Italy, Germany and Australia. Smaller markets like UAE, the new European Union member nations, Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand also offer a few options. “Price realization depends on quality, region and time of the year the roses are grown,” says Dr. Rao.

Company Specialty

When asked about the specialty of the company compared to other nurseries and floriculture firms in India, Dr. Rao says, “A decade back we were the only nursery in the country that could supply high quality planting material required for exports. In due course many plant nurseries came up who also could supply similar quality plant material. However by then the problem had shifted from quality of planting material to rose varieties demanded in international markets. Indian roses comprised old varieties from Holland and Africa which were not fetching good prices. We found out that no breeder however big he was had an assortment of all colors which were also in high demand in the international markets. This necessitated us to form an alliance of many breeders under one umbrella to serve the Indian growers.”