Economically viable flower drying techniques to sustain flower industry amid COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Imposing lockdown amid COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected flower cultivation and their trades. Flower plants are very sensitive to the harvesting, and any unexpected delay may cause great loss (~ 50–60%) to the farmers. In 2018–2019, the worth of total production of floriculture products was ~ Rs 571.38 crore. During lockdown, the availability of human laborers and restricted transport has disrupted the supply of flowers to the market. Hence, some alternative options are suggested here for the farmers, for example, conversion of decorative flowers (e.g., anthurium, China aster, globe amaranthus, sweet-william, anemone, sea lavender, etc.) and inflorescence (e.g., Michaelmas daisy, zinnia, statice, ferns, aspidistra, eucalyptus, magnolia, etc.) can also be into value-added products through drying and dehydration technologies. Many dehydration methods such as hot air oven, solar drying, press drying, freeze-drying, embedded drying, glycerine drying, and microwave oven drying polyester drying can be used for flower drying at room temperature (~ 25 °C). These floral and foliage dehydration techniques are quite simple, which can also be operated by unskilled persons. Moreover, it will generate self-employment for the youth and women along with increased revenue than selling fresh flowers. In this review, different techniques of flower drying have been discussed in detail along with the influencing factors, efficiency, economic feasibility, flower waste management and sustainability. Further, it has also been suggested how these techniques could be useful for farmers, researchers, and traders to create value-added products? Hence, the present paper could be very interesting for the flower growers, retailers, students, as well as floricultural scientists who are involved in flower production worldwide.

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Vol.:(0123456789)
Environment, Development and Sustainability (2024) 26:22103–22148
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-023-03376-w
1 3
Economically viable flower drying techniques tosustain
flower industry amidCOVID‑19 pandemic
MukeshKumar1· VeenaChaudhary2· UjjwalSirohi3· ArunLalSrivastav4
Received: 27 June 2022 / Accepted: 10 May 2023 / Published online: 29 May 2023
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2023
Abstract
Imposing lockdown amid COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected flower cultivation
and their trades. Flower plants are very sensitive to the harvesting, and any unexpected
delay may cause great loss (~ 50–60%) to the farmers. In 2018–2019, the worth of total
production of floriculture products was ~ Rs571.38crore. During lockdown, the availabil-
ity of human laborers and restricted transport has disrupted the supply of flowers to the
market. Hence, some alternative options are suggested here for the farmers, for example,
conversion of decorative flowers (e.g., anthurium, China aster, globe amaranthus, sweet-
william, anemone, sea lavender, etc.) and inflorescence (e.g., Michaelmas daisy, zinnia,
statice, ferns, aspidistra, eucalyptus, magnolia, etc.) can also be into value-added products
through drying and dehydration technologies. Many dehydration methods such as hot air
oven, solar drying, press drying, freeze-drying, embedded drying, glycerine drying, and
microwave oven drying polyester drying can be used for flower drying at room temperature
(~ 25°C). These floral and foliage dehydration techniques are quite simple, which can also
be operated by unskilled persons. Moreover, it will generate self-employment for the youth
and women along with increased revenue than selling fresh flowers. In this review, differ-
ent techniques of flower drying have been discussed in detail along with the influencing
factors, efficiency, economic feasibility, flower waste management and sustainability. Fur-
ther, it has also been suggested how these techniques could be useful for farmers, research-
ers, and traders to create value-added products? Hence, the present paper could be very
interesting for the flower growers, retailers, students, as well as floricultural scientists who
are involved in flower production worldwide.
* Arun Lal Srivastav
arun.srivastav@chitkarauniversity.edu.in; arunitbhu2009@gmail.com
1 Department ofHorticulture, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University ofAgriculture andTechnology,
Meerut, UttarPradesh250110, India
2 Department ofChemistry, Meerut College, Meerut, UttarPradesh250001, India
3 Department ofAgriculture Biotechnology, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University ofAgriculture
andTechnology, Meerut, UttarPradesh250110, India
4 Chitkara University School ofEngineering andTechnology, Chitkara University, Solan,
HimachalPradesh174103, India
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