Pakistan: Farming, post harvest handling and marketing of gladiolus
The gladiolus is attractive and demanded mostly due to its elegant inflorescence. Designers like it due to their filling flower effect. It is a major constituent of markets in terms of selling and cultivation in Pakistan beside roses and tuberoses. More than 2000 hectares are under gladiolus cultivation, mostly in the Punjab, Lahore, Shiekhupura, Kasur, Patoki, Okara, Faisalabad, Jhung, Rawalpidi, Islamabad, Multan, Rahimyar khan regions. In KPK Abbotabad, Mansehra, Swat and Dir regions.
Progressive farmers are attracted to gladiolus due to its long sowing, harvesting time and high benefit cost ratio. There is no other crop around that is comparable with gladiolus in terms of per acre profitability which is about 580,000 per acre.
Contrary to this there are too many flaws in gladiolus production, handling and marketing, that can be fixed to enhance its production and profitability. At the start of farming the first thing is the availability of good quality corms that have a key role in production in Pakistan. In Pakistan gladiolus is mostly grown on ridges and irrigated through a furrow irrigation system by using water channels, and fertilizer is applied through broadcast method while internationally drip and mist irrigation is practiced that results in rational use of water and fertilizer, reduction of production cost and improved quality.
The second thing to retain quality is proper handling and transportation internationally. Florets are kept in specially designed flower containers, ‘glad hampers’, but in Pakistan florets were just rolled in newspaper in a group of 10 and tied. Gladiolus responds very well to pulsing with preservative and 20% sugar (sucrose or glucose) but due to lack of awareness it is not practiced by all growers in Pakistan and florets are mostly kept in water containing vessels. Gladiolus is very sensitive to the force of gravity. Like all other spiked flowers they always tend to grow away from gravity. This can cause permanent deformation of the tips if they are kept along the ground, resulting in reduction in flower quality particularly at warm temperatures. Because refrigerated transportation vehicles are unavailable in Pakistan, this problem is very common. To avoid this the farmers should be educated to keep the florets upright throughout the post harvest procedure which is not mostly practiced.
Due to the focus toward only local markets, the price tends to be very unpredictable, sometimes in a season one stick is being sold for Rs 5 ($0.07) and sometimes for Rs 65 ($0.96). This is due to oversaturation; if the foreign markets are targeted properly the farmer will not only earn more for themselves but also Pakistan.
By observing rapid growth in the floriculture sector of Pakistan it is evident that floriculture can become the second largest export sector after textiles, if the government of Pakistan encourages cut flower producers by providing better production technologies, refrigerated transportation, awareness through extension work and exploring foreign markets.
For more information:
Asad Abbas, Dr. Gulzar Akhtar, Dr. Ahsan Akram and Dr. Rashad Mukhtar Balal
Department of Horticulture, University college of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan
Cell: +92 321 6211912
[email protected]
