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Chitra Phadnis

BANGALORE, Jan. 1

Non-payment of royalty by rose growers is a major problem for breeders in India and Meilland Star Rose, a French rose breeder, is now seeking the help of APEDA and the Karnataka Agro Industries Corporation (KAIC) in fighting this.

Breeders who pour in money to develop new varieties expect to make revenues by selling them to growers for a licence fee. The licence is given for a limited number of plants that are not to be multiplied for commercial use.

In India, however, piracy is rampant and ``quite a few of the growers do not pay licence fees,'' complained a breeder. Growers have been ``illegally'' propagating roses from planting material bought seven years ago, say industry sources. This has been hurting the industry in more ways than one.

Breeders have stopped importing new varieties into the country, and the older varieties do not fetch the best prices. ``In an industry where fashions are all important, it is suicidal to keep new varieties out,'' said one grower who wished to be unnamed.

``It is a Catch 22 situation,'' he told Business Line. ``When a variety goes out of fashion, we stop getting good prices for our flowers. But we don't have money to invest in a new variety which will give better prices.''

However, a quirk in the market has managed to keep Indian growers going. Two varieties, First Red and Grand Gala (said to be pirated abundantly), have been in fashion for over 10 years now and growers who had invested in it continue to get good prices for them.

Indian laws are not strict enough to take any action, and a fracas that happened over the seizure of ``fake'' or pirated roses two years ago, is still in court, said Mr P.K. Sondhi of Meilland.

According to him, breeders could always complain to the Dutch auctions, which would ban the errant growers' roses. ``But we are not getting tough because we want the industry to survive,'' he maintained.

In a way, breeders too are dependant on countries other than Holland to grow roses, feel industry sources. The cost of cultivation in Holland is on the rise, as more stringent ecological norms are coming into play. The land available for cultivation has gone down by two per cent and energy costs have spiralled out of control. All this has turned breeders' attention to other countries including India to keep the $40-45-million cut flower business going.

From the Indian growers' point of view, the breeders' fee is very steep, around 14 per cent of their costs. There are companies such as Sun Blossom Flora which are paying up and in return getting access to new varieties, as well as support and advice on growing. Meilland, for instance, offers its 15-20 legal customers free trials of new varieties, Mr Sondhi said.

Some of the varieties recently introduced are the Black Baccara, a black rose, Royal Baccara, the Leonidas family, the Pretty family and Golden Starlite.

The Indian reluctance to pay fees probably springs from the industry's unhappy experience with foreign consultants, guessed Mr Siddhartha Mukherjee of Sun Blossom. Consultants used Indian growers as guinea pigs and sold them varieties that were experimental rather than what the market wanted, he said.

This year, exports are expected to be lower because of upset flight connections, and a reduced market demand, said growers. According to APEDA, last year's exports were worth Rs 30 crore though projections for the current year was not available.

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