Smart Skills
Fruits of labour
Usha Albuquerque

The cartloads of mangoes at every market across India, makes you forget the oppressive heat and dust of summer. And it’s just not mangoes that bring colour to our meals, but a whole variety of fruit. Horticulture in India has come of age, with our fruits now being exported to the US too.

High-tech green houses, in-house research and off-season cultivation have ushered in rapid developments in this sector, making India among the largest producers of fruits and vegetables in the world.

Horticulture covers the cultivation of fruits and vegetables, while floriculture includes plants, flowers, and trees for commercial purposes.

There are broadly two main areas of activity in horticulture:

Commercial horticulture involves growing fruits and vegetables in orchards and plantations for sale, both as raw commodities and for processing purposes. Horticulturists also create exotic and high-quality plants by interbreeding, which are then multiplied on a mass scale for commercial purposes.

Amenity horticulture involves making and maintaining gardens as pleasant environs.

The work broadly involves — Production, which covers the growing and harvesting of raw fruits, vegetables and flowers carried out mainly by farmers. Much of the work is farming, involving management and supervision of agricultural practises for maximising yields. The work would normally cover all aspects of soil preparation, sowing, harvesting, administration of nutrients and fertilisers, and the scientific management of climatic conditions. If you have had a largely urban upbringing, it is advisable to spend a summer vacation on a farm gaining practical experience before plunging into a life of farming.

Cultivated interest

However, with many large MNCs and retail houses making forays into the farming sector, there are now more scientific and managerial inputs in the cultivation and marketing of fruits, flowers and vegetables, that do not require you to spend all your time, out in the fields.

Processing is another aspect of the work which covers all aspects of handling flowers, fruits and vegetables for distribution, whether in a natural form or as processed foods. New and scientific methods of plant breeding and processing have made it possible not only to extend the shelf life of these perishables, but also to process them in packaged form, or as canned fruits, preserves, juices, jams and so on.

Experienced horticulturists can become plantation assistants or quality inspectors for commercial canning in quick-freezing stations or packaging for the domestic and export market. Today’s cold chain for fruits and vegetables makes it possible to transport these perishables to markets all over the world, as fresh as the day they were harvested.

Field wide open

Amenity horticulture involves all aspects of cultivation of flowers, flowering plants, shrubs, and ornamental trees for decorative purposes in gardens. Grafting, collecting seeds and de-budding are some of the other functions that have to be performed. Development and maintenance of town and country parks, picnic areas, golf courses, as also landscaping of gardens, lawns, hot-houses and nurseries are other areas handled by horticulturists in amenity horticulture.

Research is another area of work for a horticulturist, to improve and breed new varieties of fruits and vegetables or flowers, by the application of scientific techniques such as tissue culture, micropropagation, and embryo culture etc. This would generally be undertaken in government-funded research institutions, although there are research and development laboratories being set up by private sector companies in the business of processing or marketing horticultural foods.

To become a horticulturist, you can take up a B.Sc. in agriculture or horticulture after science in plus two, preferably with biology. Most colleges do not conduct a separate course for horticulture, at the undergraduate level, but treat it as a subject of applied science or the agriculture course.

Skill set

M.Sc. or a postgraduate diploma in horticulture offers specialisations in pomology, (cultivation of fruits) in olericulture ( cultivation of vegetables) and floriculture, and even fruit preservation.

You also must have an interest in nature, concern for the environment, and love working with plants. Horticulturists also need to have a lot of patience (after all, plants take time to grow!), and a willingness to keep themselves updated on the latest techniques of plant breeding and propagation.

Horticulturists today are engaged in cultivation and export of flowers and fruits. They are also employed in the management of orchards of fruits and vineyards, and with large scale plantations of tea, coffee, cashew and rubber.

Ways to bloom

There are also job openings in ancillary industries like packaging, transport, cold storage, food processing and manufacturing units. Holiday resorts, health farms and farm houses have resident horticulturists, and many work on landscaping assignments with architectural firms.

They can also work in government horticulture departments, or at institutions like the Indian Council for Agricultural Research, and the National Botanical research Institute. Horticulturists are skilled in the application of hi-tech micro-propagation techniques, like tissue culture and embryo culture, and can undertake research projects in all aspects of fruit and vegetable cultivation, and genetic engineering for the propagation of high yielding, disease resistant strains of horticultural produce. Horticulturists are also cultivating special plants for medicinal purposes.

There are various avenues for self employment - setting up one's own farm for growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, and ornamental plants, or running nurseries. The National Horticulture Board provides loans to companies for setting up horticulture/ floriculture units. Moreover, as an incentive for exports, the government permits duty-free import of technology for 100 per cent export-oriented units. Moreover, as the popularity of gardens increases, landscaping and ornamental horticulture is becoming highly developed requiring trained skills. Those with horticulture skills can also become a consultant for offices and commercial organisations providing them with ornamental plants, potted plants, maintain lawns and gardens, and for the supply and decoration of fresh flowers.

With increasing demand for cut flowers of all kinds for every occasion, many are venturing into specialising in floriculture, particularly the propagation of exotic species of flowers such as orchids and bird of paradise flowers for export.

So, if you have green thumbs, as they say, and love working in the garden, this is the time to consider horticulture as a possible career.

The writer is a noted career expert