MANAGEMENT MOVES
Saurav Somani
Starting a nursery business
Flowers and plants are an indispensable part of our lives. In fact, whether it is our home or workplace, the presence of flowers and plants accentuates the overall beauty of the ambience. If it’s your hobby to cultivate flowers, you can turn your passion into your occupation by starting a nursery business. Here are some handy tips:
l Basics: Nurseries can be started irrespective of where you are located but with enough land space to grow plants. A nursery business can be started from your backyard, in open plots, in greenhouses, or on agricultural land. To start such a business, one must have a clear understanding of what kind of plant species to grow. Usually, nurseries that are located in urban regions prefer growing flowering plants, decorative plants, vegetable plants, and ornamental trees.
l Location: The nursery’s location may be predetermined based on cost investment and availability of the property. An open space is all that is required to start a nursery. The choice of your location will directly influence marketing the plant saplings, manpower, and future expansion. The location must be near a major city or township, with access to transportation and labour, and should be convenient for future expansion. Also, the site must be nutrient-rich and with a good water source.
l Chemicals and fertilisers: The nursery business requires protecting seeds as well as plants from various diseases. As a matter of fact, the ones occupied with the plant business might need a lot of chemicals, fungicides, pesticides, tropics, as well as manure. Entrepreneurs must make special arrangements for properly nurturing the plants. Also, there must be proper and balanced use of organic manure as well as chemical fertilisers.
l Machinery and equipment: A nursery also needs the right kind of equipment as well as machinery. This will help in running the business successfully in a shorter span of time. Because of the daily routine work of nurseries, they are required to effectively fill the containers, pots, etc., transport them, water the plants, and more.
l The requirement of the employees: This business needs multiple activities like sorting, weeding, bunting, irrigation, plantation, using pesticides effectively, and so on. Hence, a nursery always needs experienced labourers who, at the same, are skilled enough to raise the business.
l Taxation benefits: The nursery business is exempted from many tax levies. Under goods & services tax (GST), the selling of live plants, trees, bulbs, roots, cut flowers, and ornamental foliage does not attract any tax. Furthermore, under Income Tax laws, an income derived from the nursery business is agricultural income and does not attract any income tax.
l Financial assistance: A nursery business is entitled to many financial loans at a concessional rate of interest. In fact, the National Horticulture Board (NHB) and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) provides loans and financial assistance to nursery business owners for purchase of equipment and maintenance activities. Also, those who grow medicinal plants and herbs are eligible to get financial assistance from the government regulated Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH).
