Perception of Stakeholders towards Preference of Gladiolus Varieties

Abstract

Gladiolus is one of the most important flower crops grown commercially in different parts of India. Production of Gladiolus in India is estimated to be 259.77 thousand tonnes in 2021-22. The study aims to study the perception of stakeholders towards the preference for gladiolus varieties. The present study was conducted in the Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, Dr P. D. K. V. Akola, Maharashtra, with an exploratory design of social research. The data was collected, examined, classified, quantified and tabulated by personally interviewing the randomly selected stakeholders, where the selected stakeholders comprise four different categories: flower growers, shopkeepers, consumers and university scientists, where each category consists of 40 members, making a total sample size of 160. A well-structured interview schedule was used to gather first-hand information from the respondents. A total of 24 varieties belonging to five colours of Gladiolus were selected for the study to assess the preference and perception of stakeholders. Arka Kesar variety in orange colour was preferred by all the stakeholders, whereas in yellow colour varieties, university scientists preferred P.D.K.V.Gold variety, and all others preferred Yellow stone variety. Arka Naveen's variety in purple colour was preferred by all the stakeholders. The perception was calculated on a three-point scale of agree (3), undecided (2) and disagree (3). The findings revealed that the majority of flower growers (53.33%), shopkeepers (56.66%), and consumers (66.66%) had a medium level of perception, while the largest proportion of university scientists (43.34%) had a medium level of perception towards preference for Gladiolus varieties. To further strengthen the Gladiolus sector, it is recommended to intensify the promotion and targeted dissemination of favoured cultivars, implement customised awareness and capacity-building programs for all stakeholder categories, and organise collaborative demonstration trials to facilitate participatory evaluation.