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| (Photo by Raja Waseem) |
It’s that time of year when thousands of tourists flock to the Netherlands to admire the fields of flowers in full bloom. The Keukenhof park is world famous for its floral displays, mostly composed of the Dutch national flower, the tulip. In Indian Kashmir, the Siraj Bagh tulip garden is trying to rival its Dutch counterpart.
The garden - Asia’s largest - has grown substantially over the last few years. In 2007 the park was created on the banks of the Dal lake with 350,000 tulip bulbs in an area of 12,3 acres (50,000 square metres). This year, the gardens expanded to almost 1,5 million tulips spread across 20 acres (81,000 square metres).
Tourist attraction
It is becoming one of Kashmir’s main tourist attractions, with 80,000 Indian and international tourists visiting the site. Only ten percent of the visitors come from Kashmir itself. According to the Jammu & Kashmir government, the Siraj Bagh gardens not only act as a tourist draw, but also as a marketing tool for the region’s flourishing floricultural industry.
"Huge potential"
“This naturally scenic state holds a huge potential for the floriculture industry to prosper,” Kashmir’s minister for Health and Horticulture, Javed Ahmed Dar, said recently at a workshop on the development of commercial floriculture. “The climate conditions are very good here, much better than in other Indian states.”
India’s flower business is booming, with Delhi as the home to Asia’s biggest flower market and exports generating approximately 15,5 million euros annually.
Watch a video of the flower garden here: (or click here). Story continues below.
Weather
Growing flowers often requires specific weather conditions. Tulip bulbs, for instance, flourish best when planted in cold soil and left to overwinter before being allowed to bloom under moderate weather conditions. This is why the tulip has done so well in the Dutch climate for so long; but, as the Health and Horticulture ministry’s website points out, India’s climate is a different matter.
“Although conditions here are better than in other parts of the country, we still face a few natural obstacles. Temperature variation is very important in cultivation and we don’t have the infrastructure yet to fully control that. It requires a large investment. But we are confident that we can develop a substantial flower growing business in Kashmir.”
Dutch bulbs
Despite Kashmir’s ambitions for expanding its own floriculture industry, most tulip bulbs planted in the Siraj Bagh gardens have been imported from the Netherlands, by far the world’s leading exporter of flowers and flower bulbs. According to figures from the Dutch Horticulture Board, 22 million Dutch flower bulbs were exported to India in 2009, worth a little over 2 million Euros.
That said, India and other countries in the region are still not major export destinations – the Dutch flower business relies on much larger international markets such as the US, China, Germany , the UK and Japan. In total, Dutch bulb exports are worth 580 million Euros.
Mood
Meanwhile, Kashmir authorities hope the current tulip season – which ends in June – will attract thousands of tourists to the Siraj Bagh gardens. “We are expecting tourists from all over the world, “ Mr Ahmed Dar said at the official opening of the gardens. “The mood of people has changed from the Netherlands to Kashmir,” he added - with a hint of optimism.
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Tourists stroll in a park in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, April 4, 2011, on the occasion of the Qingming Festival holidays. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) |
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Tourists have a rest near the blooming tulips in Emirgan park in Istanbul, Turkey, April 15, 2011. With over 10 million tulips planted in Istanbul, the annual International Istanbul Tulip Festival which took place from 1st to 30th of April, held a openning ceremony in Emirgan park on Friday. (Xinhua/Ma Yan) |
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