Cultivation and Market Economics of Lilium Flowers Grown in Kumaun Hills of Uttarakhand

Lilium is one of the important bulbous flowers grown in Kumaun hills of Uttarakhand. Present study aims at examining cost incurred in production in terms of percentage and investigating the existing marketing system. The study reveals that the operational cost during first year was the most important item of cost, accounting for 37.32 per cent of the total operational cost. Cuttings formed the chief component of material cost accounting for 97.57 per cent of the total material cost. Cost of production was very high in first year due to high labour and material cost. The yield per hectare was estimated to be 121982 spikes in the first year. Thereafter, yield declined and decreased to 98806 in third year. It is found that lilium cultivation is economically viable.The investigation also reveals that two marketing channels exist in the marketing of lilium flower in the study area. The marketing cost as percentage of consumers rupee, borne by producer in channel-I was 6.41 per cent and 6.36 per cent in channel-II. It was found that retailers get higher relative share in consumer’s rupee. It is suggested that liberal credit facilities need to be made operative for farmers, as Lilium is highly capital intensive enterprise. Development of wholesale markets close to production clusters and related infrastructure in terms of storage, packaging, transport and market information also need to be strengthened to give a boost to production and return from the market.