Floriculture is the fast emerging industry in India. National Horticulture Board of India is providing financial financial assistance for flower cultivation, marketing and training of farmers interested in floriculture. Presently, the production and trade of floriculture both for domestic and industrial purpose is in the hands of small business houses where unskilled women are the main workers. Agriculture policy in India is still dominated by the false view that farmers are men and women are only housewives. Though women contribute significantly in different ways to agriculture and agri-based enterprises in different states of India, yet they have remained inactive and dependent. There is a conceptual inability of statisticians and researchers to define women's work inside and outside the house. Emerging studies have suggested that increasing numbers of adult women in India are not simply 'housewives', but are in fact 'farmers' who have equal right for technical knowledge. Here an attempt has been made first to train rural women for floriculture and then by providing all type of technical and financial assistance, help to carry out flower cultivation on small scale, marketing of flowers, cost-benefit analysis, final adoption of the technology on large scale. Factors affecting non-adoption and constraints experienced by rural women in adoption of flower cultivation enterprise have also been identified. This book should be useful for policymakers, planners, extension personnel and also those interested for rural women development in diversified agriculture.
