Floriculture Practices, Land Use Pattern and Socio-economic Status of Flower Cultivators in Paschim Kalya, Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, India

Abstract

The floriculture has become one of the significant commercial agricultural activities at different parts of West Bengal. The current investigation deals with floriculture condition of Paschim Kalya village, under Panskura-I Block of Purba Medinipur district at West Bengal. The study is primarily centered on given floriculture pattern at national and state level, land use and land cover (LULC) characteristics of the area under study, socio-economic status of flower growers, marketing pattern followed by them along with their labour participation in farming activities as well as SWOT analysis of flowers growing. The study used both primary and secondary data. Household survey were conducted using a structured questionnaire and analysed on Likert scale basis (primary data); other secondary data derived from National Horticulture Board, government reports & satellite imagery. A supervised image classification method was used to prepare the LULC map of the study area. The results indicate that floriculture has a share of land use dominance and an important role in livelihood generation, and rural economic development. Though floriculture is practiced by the marginal farmers, yet they not only benefit phenomenally in terms of income but also this sector remains the due icon of international business. It also highlights a number of potential constraints including flower price instability, low profit margins, middlemen debt, pest problems, lack of storage infrastructure and poor market information and limited institutional support. In contrast to this, the respondents had a more optimistic view on floriculture market growth opportunities and increasing production for future. The study states that Paschim Kalya has enormous development potential for floriculture because of favorable agro-climatic conditions, the availability of fertile alluvial soil, irrigation facilities and transportation connectivity. The study concludes on the note of building enduring market infrastructure, arranging cooperative marketing systems, creating cold storage facilities, ensuring access to scientific training programmers and government support for sustainable floriculture development and livelihood capitalization in the region.