Floriculture in Nepal

The consumption of cut flowers in the world is worth US$ 13,000 million. The main importers are the USA, Germany, France, UK, Switzerland, Sweden,Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, Australia, and Japan. Germany is the largest importer, followed by the US, France and Britain. Among the exporters , the Netherlands dominates the world trade (65%), followed by Columbia (12%) and Israel (6%). Thailand holds  sixth position in export of cut flowers (Prasad and Kumar, 2005).In present context  Half of the flowers produced in the world is consumed by western Europe alone and a large expansion in flower consumption is taking place in Eastern Europe,Japan, China, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia.

Kathmandu valley is the central of Cut flower business in Nepal . The localization is mainly due to access to consumer-orientation and favorable natural conditions. The establishment of such industries takes place wherever consumers with sufficient purchasing powers are living. The existence of most of the star  hotels, big business houses and international houses encourage the establishment of these industries in Kathmandu rather than in other places. Similarly, the topography and climatic conditions prevalent within the valley support the establishment of floricultural enterprises (Chhetri, 1999). Cut flower business has shown steady and continuous growth  in Nepal. Due to urbanization and modernization, the demand of the cut flower has increased tremendously. There is ample scope for promotion of this business within Kathmandu valley as the demand is not fulfilled .Import of cut flowers from india and other countries by Hotels and other consumers can be substituted by  Promotion of domestic production .

Mainly two seasons  production  are prevails for cut flower  in Nepal i.e., summer season and winter season. In summer season, the demand of flower has been fulfilled by the Nepalese grower whereas in winter, wholesalers/retailers import flowers from India, as demand is not achieved by the Nepalese production. During the summer, the demand of the cut flower is accomplished by the production within Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur and nearby area from valley.