REVIVAL OF A SICK NURSERY

2. Reviving a sick nursery

3. INTRODUCTION
 A sick nursery is one, which fails to generate internal
surpluses on a continuing basis and depends for its
survival on the frequent infusion of external funds
 The liberalisation of the economy resulting into
increased competition has added considerably to the
problem of sickness of the business concerns
 If revival measures are not adopted early , the
nursery may have at the end of any financial year
accumulated losses equal to or exceeding its entire
net worth

4. INDICATORS OF SICKNESS
 Continuous reduction in turnover
 Piling up of inventory
 Continuous reduction of net profit to sales ratio
 Short term borrowing at high interest rate
 Continuous cash losses leading to erosion of tangible
net worth
 Delay in finalization of accounts

5. CAUSES OF SICKNESS
 Prevention is better than cure is the proverb that reflects
the need for knowing the causes of sickness so that one
can plan to avoid the sickness
 Just as human beings, a nursery can either run into
trouble even during the implementation stage itself or
develop sickness during its lifetime
 Internal causes are those that are internal to the nursery
over which the management of the nursery has full
control
 External causes are those that are external to the nursery
over which the management of the nursery has little
control

6. THE STAGES OF SICKNESS
 Defects in planning and project formulation
 Lacunae in project implementation
 Production related problems
 Inefficient marketing
 Financial constraints
 Issues related to general and personnel
administration

7. DEFECTS IN PLANNING AND PROJECT
FORMULATION
 Most of sickness is attributed to ill-conceived
projects and inadequate planning
 A project that may, prima-facia present a rosy picture
may have many hidden pitfalls
 Irrational , over-optimistic decision may result in
choosing projects that may have inherent weakness
 The existence of a few players in the chosen field
,who are doing well, is not always a sound proof that
the project will be a success
 A through and detailed investigation of the project
during the formulation stage is essential

8. LACUNAE IN PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
 Delayed implementation gives a project a difficult
start
 Long time taken for project implementation results in
time overrun which is invariably followed by cost
overrun
 The problem of cost overrun will get more
compounded if the finance necessary to meet the
increased cost cannot be arranged in time

9. PROBLEMS
 The promoter may not be in a position to bring in
funds to the required extent in time
 The cost of different components of project-cost may
increase due to price escalation
 The cost provided for some of the elements of
project-cost might have been underestimated
 There may be delay in getting power connection,
water connection , approval from local bodies ,
approval from pollution control authorities etc which
may postpone project implementation of production

10. PRODUCTION RELATED PROBLEMS
 Increase in cost of production
 Decrease in quality of production due to defects in
performance of persons employed
 Quality of product not meeting the standards or
consumers exception
 Producing more quantity than can be sold , leading
to accumulation of stock
 Lack of proper planning of product mix and lack of
co-ordination between production and marketing
departments may lead piling up of inventory, which
will only add to the cost of the product

11. INEFFICIENT MARKETING
 Marketing occupies an important position in the
organization of any business unit
 The prime objective of marketing is the satisfaction of
consumers needs
 It involves planning and producing to meet customer
needs and also servicing the customers after selling the
product
 In the present day situation where buyer’s market has
come to stay almost for all products ,any organization
that does not give due importance to marketing is bound
to find its sale turnover taking a downward trend

12. PROBLEMS
 Introduction of better substitute products by
competitors
 Absence of product innovation and new product
development
 Failure to maximize the potential of existing products
 Poor and inadequate distribution system
 Failure to meet the agreed delivery schedules
 Absence of correct costing and correct pricing system
for the products

13. Financial constraints
 A nursery is sick when it fails to yield reasonable
profit to sustain its existence
 There may be several reasons for this sickness but
financial constraints constitute a major stumbling
block for success of the nursery
 Finance is considered the lifeline of any business

14. PROBLEMS
 The nursery owner might have chosen a bigger plan
which is beyond their financial capacity , they often
resort to borrowing , invariably at higher interest
with the hope of clearing borrowing once the project
takes off
 Funding a project with a higher debt component
than that it can safety bear is another reason for
sickness
 Improper inventory management policy will lead to
holding huge stock of finished products

15. ISSUES RELATED TO ADMINISTRATION
 Lack of motivation and co-ordination among staff /
workers
 Lack of manpower planning
 Poor industrial relation to labour unrest
 Difference of opinion among the
shareholders/partners
 Lack of assigning equal importance to all areas of
business
 Projects that solely depend upon the skills of an
individual

16. ANALYSING REVIVAL PROSPECTS
 Once bitten, twice sky before attempting to
rehabilitate a sick nursery/unit
 The detailed and thorough viability study is to be
undertaken to ensure that the revival programme will
really bear fruits
 The viability analysis shall enquire into the technical ,
commercial , management , financial aspects

17. TECHINICAL APPRASIAL
 Study the production capacity of different production
sections and checkup if the production capacities of
different sections are perfectly balanced
 Explore the possibilities of additional/special feature to
the products that will add competitive edge to the
product
 If the locational disadvantage outweigh all other factor ,
the scope for shifting the location to an advantageous
place may be examined and the cost-benefit analysis
studied
 Study the modification required , if any in the nursery
layout so that the material or product handling time can
be reduced which may improve the efficiency of
operation and improve the output

18. COMMERCIAL APPRAISAL
 Commercial failure of a project will be mainly due to
problems relating to the product itself viz., imperfections
in product which may lead to consumer resistance
 Such situation indicate that the products offered by
competitors have better features that attract the
consumers
 Minor modification in designing and packing the product
with upward revision in price may be accepted by market
which brings better income to nursery
 Limiting to a specific groups of plants may restrict the
business to a particular group of peoples , so product
diversification may prove to be a feasible solution

19. MANAGEMENT APPRAISAL
 A good nursery in the hands of an ineffective management
becomes sick in due course of time
 Similarly , a good management is capable of converting a
not-so-good nursery into highly successful profit-making
nursery
 The sickness is due to reasons beyond the control of
present management or due to ineffective management

20. FINANCIAL APPRAISAL
 Reduction in interest rate of existing loans
 Conversion of short term loans in to long terms loans
 Conversion of part of long term loans into equity
 Offering a revised schedule of repayment for the
principal components of term loan
 Sanction of additional loan to meet the additional
capital expenditure
 Funding of the overdue interest and making it
repayable in easy instalments

21. REVIVAL PROGRAMME
 A nursery that has gone sick would already loss its huge
resources
 In order to utilize the assets and infrastructure already
created for the nursery ,it needs to be revived
 There is no doubt that the nursery would have had some
weak areas which could have been the cause for the
sickness
 Inspite of this, revival the sick nursery is worth
considering since the cost of setting up a new unit might
be substantially higher as compared to cost of
revival/rehabilitating a viable sick nursery

22. ORGANISATION IS THE KEY
 You can increase profitability a great deal by simple
organising and planning what to do in nursery
 Planning should be an ongoing process
 There are basic things which should be asked over
and over as constantly review what nursery is
producing or selling, how are producing and how
market the products

23. REDUCE WASTED TIME
 Doing various tasks manually is not only costlier but
also time consuming
 Mechanization of tasks may save considerable time
and labour

24. REDUCE WASTED FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT
 Owner should only buy extra equipment because it
will lead to extra profit
 Sometimes more cost effective to hire some types of
equipment , particularly equipment that , while
necessary to the nursery operation, is only used
infrequently

25. REDUCE WASTED MATERIALS
 Be self critical, it is easy for expenses to increase
because potting mix gets spilt on floor, buy too many
labels and pots which break over time or damaged if
stored incorrectly
 It is a mistake to just keep buying materials when it
need , without having earlier calculated what
requirements should have been

26. MAKE THE MOST EFFICIENT USE OF LABOUR
 It is important to have suitable trained staff and the
right mix of staff
 There is little point in having , for example, staff
busily propagating plants , if labour don’t have the
support staff available to care for those plants once
propagated, or to do the marketing and transporting
in due time

27. DIVERFICATION
 Diversification may be an effective way of reducing income
variability
 It means combining of different production oriented tasks
 For instance, diversification can include more crops in the
same production process or having different types of allied
enterprises like supply of gardening inputs , rooting media etc
 It typically reduce large year-to-year variations in income
 Effective diversification occurs when low income from one
enterprise is simultaneously offset by satisfactory or high
incomes from other enterprises
 In worst case, small nursery can minimize production or
income generation risk through diversifying source of income
such as opting for part-time off-farm employment of its labour
force and regularly paid staff

28. CROP INSURANCE
 Crop insurance providing financial security against
losses suffered due to crop failure because of fire ,
storm, cyclone etc
 Crop insurance is an example of a risk management
tool that not only protects against losses but also
offers the opportunity for more consistent gains
 Insurance program protects against yield shortfall by
providing coverage against most natural disasters

29.  Crop grown under glass, plastic , or other generally
fall into high value input-output category, as such,
risk management planning is very important
 Sometimes insurance offer policies, which cover the
minimum standards for construction and material
used in the construction
 The changing economic environment has triggered a
renewed interest in crop –insurance and expected
that nursery crops would soon be covered by good
insurance schemes thereby improving the chances of
revival from sickness

30. MONITORING THE REVIVAL PROGRAMME
 A sick nursery that is under a revival programme is
similar to a sick person who is in curing stage and
needs continuous monitoring
 A simple and practical monitoring mechanism needs
to be followed for its speed revival
 A nursery manager will keep an open mind , will
continually review the way things are done in the
nursery and look for better , more up-to-date and
more profitable ways of doing things besides
decorating the establishment for enhanced attraction
of the peoples

31. WAYS TO REVIVE A DYING PLANT
 LOCATION:
 Make sure its in the right spot and receiving the sun
or shade it requires
 Every plant wants to grow and thrive but if its not
getting enough sun or too much sun its going to
struggle
 Moving plants is easier if they are in a pot but if in
ground water well begore digging up and choose a
mild day before relocating

32. SOIL IMPROVEMENT
 Improve the soil around plants
 Soil is the diet for plants and needs to be healthy for
plants to succeed
 Improve the soil in new beds by digging through
mushroom compost and well rotted manure

33. THE RIGHT NUTRIENTS
 Water sick plant well and using a seaweed tonic
diluted in water will help to promote healthy soil and
root growth
 Avoid over fertilizing unless see signs of an minerak
deficiency.

34. CUTTING BACK
 Cut back leggy shrubs and remove any dead or dying
leaves and branches.
 The majority of plants can be cut back by a third
safely and this will help to promote new growth both
above and below the soil
 Removing yellowing and spent leaves and flowers will
give the plant space to grow new ones.

35. Control the nasties
 Once you have given your plant some love and
attention you need to keep the maintenance to
ensure it gets back to full health as soon as possible.
 Ensure plant receives the water it needs and fertilize
with a slow release fertilizer and liquid one
simultaneously ,around the time to see the new
growth and improvement from plants.

36. SICK PLANT DIAGNOSIS
 The texas plant disease diagnostic laboratory(TPDDL)
 It gives service and effort of the department of plant
pathology and microbiology at Texas
 It provide the most accurate and rapid plant disease
diagnosis together with recommendation for
effective plant disease management

37. CONCLUSION
 Developing customer-oriented new products
 Staff training for skill upgradation and knowledge
enhancement
 Calculating and analysing the profit and resetting
price accordingly
 Looking for better prices of raw materials
 Refining propagation methods for each plant variety
 Upgrade equipments for improving production
efficiency
 Attending seminars and keeping in touch with
current research , trends and development

38. REFERENCE
 PLANT NURSERY MANAGEMENT
:P.K. RAY
 BASIC HORTICULTURE
:JITENDRA SINGH
 NURSERY RAISING
:S.N DAS