Introduction and Career in Horticulture

Introduction

Horticulture is a science of cultivating flowers, fruits and vegetable plants and  an important branch of agriculture science. This article will introduce you to the branch of horticulture in brief and also put light on opportunities when you plant to have career in horticulture.

The word ‘Horticulture’ is derived from a Latin word ‘Hortus’ meaning enclosure/garden and ‘culture’ meaning cultivation. So, horticulture means the culture or cultivation of garden crops.It is regarded as a revenue generation profession. This is because, per acre yield from a horticultural crop is way higher than the agronomic or field crops. This means, a horticulturist can earn more from less piece of land. A farmer, cultivating tomatoes in open fields is worse off than a horticulturist cultivating the tomatoes in tunnel farming. The resources are also used optimally and cheaply in horticultural crops and the efficiency rate is high.

Branches of Horticulture

There are four branches of horticulture. These include’

1. Floriculture

It is a field of science that deals with the study of ornamental plants and landscaping.

2. Olericulture

It is a branch of horticulture that deals with the study of cultivation of vegetable crops.

3. Pomology

The study and art of growing fruits is called as Pomology.

4. Fruit and vegetable preservation

 The principles of fruits and vegetable preservation are studied under this branch.

Scope and Career in Horticulture

Arid environments are most appropriate for cultivating horticultural crops due to less availability of suitable land and water availability. As less land is required to practice horticulture, it is easy to manage the resources more effectively and efficiently.

Introduction and Career in Horticulture

Career in Horticulture

Career opportunities in horticulture are enormous. There is a broad range of challenging as well as rewarding professional professions waiting for horticulturists in production, management, marketing, education and research fields. Graduates often open their own business enterprise dealing with any branch of horticulture.

Business Career

Horticulture is a promising and good family business. It does not need heavy investment. The piece of land required is small. This means labor requirement is also less. However, if you still need a helping hand, horticulture can supply the labor with yearlong employment, whereas this is not possible during slack seasons in field crop cultivation. As mentioned earlier, the rate of return per acre is higher. Another benefit that can be harnessed from horticulture is that you can control the growing environment in some cases like vegetable crops. This way, you can grow off-season vegetables and market them to earn good profit.

As a horticulturist businessman, you can experiment with crossing various varieties of a vegetable or fruit to get a profitable hybrid variety. This is a best way of utilizing what you learnt. Last but not least, opening your own consulting firm is another option for a horticulturist.

Job Career

As an employment, there is great scope for graduates. Landscaping jobs are the most suitable ones for them. There is always room for horticulturist to get hired by a private or public housing society, public park authorities, owner of homes etc. Multinational firms and corporations also seek expertise of horticulturists in return of good salaries. Teaching profession is another avenue to earn from what you learnt. Similarly, horticulturists are also required as quarantine experts on the dry and sea ports to inspect the quality of imported and exported fruits and vegetables.

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