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Flowers are very intimately associated with the social and religious activities in India. In social life, flowers are offered to welcome, to felicite and to greet friends or relatives and guests in functions. Flowers are needed in all the religious ceremonies functions including marriages. Garlands and wreaths are offered on dead bodies of martyars and very important persons (VIPs) and national heroes as a gratitude for the work done and sacrifice made by them. Flower is a taken of love and tenderness. They are wanted due to various attractive colours and fragrance. Flowers are also used for extracting essential oils, which are used in perfumes. Many flowers have medicinal values and hence are used in Ayurveda. In India, large number of flowers are grown in different parts according to soils and climate and also likings and preferences of the people for specific type of flowers. Important flowers are rose, marigold, chrysanthemum, jasmine, lily, tuberose, aster, zinia, carnation, gladiolus, galardia etc. Flowers are tender and hence highly perishable. They are generally used in fresh form but they have very short shelf life. This poses great problems in their marketing, particularly lone distance marketing. Therefore, flower cultivation is concentrated in the hinterland of big cities like Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Mysore, Chennai, Calcutta, Delhi etc. But with the development of quick transport vehicles and refrigerated or insulated vans, flowers are transported to distant markets including foreign markets. For successful marketing of flowers, well-developed markets and well-organised marketing system is necessary.
Historically known for the cultivation of a number of commercial crops, Kerala has an agrarian economy. Many cash crops, like coconuts, rubber, tea and coffee, pepper and cardamom, cashew, areca nut, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, cloves etc., give the agriculture of Kerala a distinct flavour. Nearly 70% of Indian output of coconuts is provided by Kerala. Alappuzha, one the district of Kerala known as the ‘rice bowl of the state’, has a predominant position in the production of rice.
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