A deep red Taj Mahal, with love

This Valentine’s Day, another Taj Mahal will set a few million hearts across the world aflutter.

This Valentine’s Day, another Taj Mahal will set a few million hearts across the world aflutter. This Taj Mahal, a variety of rose that borrows its name from the monument of love and for which India has won a patent, will be grown in a hamlet in Tamil Nadu and sold in the global market for Valentine’s Day.

The deep red rose will be grown in green house conditions in Amudagondapalli, near Hosur, and exported to Europe, Australia, Japan and the Middle East for about 35 euro cents (about Rs. 20) per stalk.

“We looked

at the various patented names and were lucky to find that Taj Mahal had not been taken,” said S. Ramasundaram, Managing Director of the state-run Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO). Considering India got exclusive rights for the name only recently, only a small quantity of Taj Mahals could be grown and sold in the European market for Valentine’s Day. “Next year, we will go in for mass production and hope to get more orders for this variety,” said Ramasundaram.

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TIDCO, along with the Bangalore-based MNA Associates, promoted Tanflora, a Rs 22-crore cooperative of 25 farmers, to grow roses. The farms are spread over 50 hectares with a production capacity of 70 million roses of different varieties. While last year, Tanflora’s Amudagondapalli green houses sent one million roses to Europe, this year it sent three million roses.

But the Taj Mahals—with their deep red flowers, tall heads and stems with bigger leaves—will hold pride of place. The variety, created by a breeder in Holland, thrives in the Tanflora farm. “After trials, we found that Hosur conditions are extremely compatible for the Taj Mahal. We have the ideal climate, whereas European countries are forced to grow roses under artificial lighting and heating. The turnout here is faster and 95 per cent of the roses grown are fit for export,” said Najeeb Ahmed, managing director of Tanflora.

The Tanflora Park is the country’s first Agri Export Zone for cut flowers and its contribution has been projected to touch about one fifth of the country’s total production. Rose buds of Red Giant, Passion, Red Palace, and 30-odd varieties are packed in corrugated boxes and sent in refrigerated trucks to Bangalore, from where it is flown to various global markets.

For the first time last year, one million roses left Amudagondapalli, earning the promoters about Rs. 1.5 crore. While this year, Tanflora accomplished its target of three million roses, next year it hopes to touch full production capacity and send 70 million roses abroad.