BENGALURU: They say, ‘say it with flowers’. But this Valentine’s Day, you may have to ‘pay’ it with flowers. For, you may have to shell double the usual price if you are planning to buy roses for your loved one.
One rose stem which cost Rs 10-15 last year is likely to be sold at Rs 20 to Rs 25 this V-Day. This is because production has come down due to deficit rainfall.
Roses are grown nearly in 250 hectares in and around Bengaluru, including Hosakote, Anekal, Mandur and other places.
Every day, around 15 lakh stems are sent to national and global markets, including Gulf countries,
Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia. On Valentine’s Day, more than 25 lakh rose stems are expected to be sold in Bengaluru alone. But there has been 30 per cent decline in the yield, owing to deficit rainfall.
“Our family normally grows 250kg to 300kg of roses in six acres of land. We grow four varieties. But this time the yield has dropped down to 180kg. Shortage of water caused many buds to fall before blooming,” said Chandrappa, a rose grower in Mandur, around 15km from KR Puram.
“Earlier, we would hire a separate Maruti van to supply roses to KR Market. Now, less yield of flowers forces three to four farmers to use one single Tempo Traveller,” he added.
Another rose grower Gopal said: “At Hosakote, rose yield was not that bad at the start of the season. However, heavy rain led to fall of many buds and smaller flowers, ultimately leading to poor production.”
“There is less supply of stemmed roses that are used to make bouquets. We are selling them to retail vendors for Rs 30 per bunch, which were sold for Rs 15 last year. The stemmed roses are always in demand on Valentine’s Day,” he said.
“The vendors will sell the roses to bouquet shop owners at even higher rates. Ultimately the roses will be dearer to the customer,” he added.
“The best quality roses are sent to foreign countries and they are sold for Rs 100 to Rs 250 per stem. The average quality ones are sent to Delhi, Mumbai and other cities. Their price varies from Rs 25 to Rs 50. Inferior quality flowers are sent to KR Market that are sold to vendors for Rs 70 per bunch of rose stems. Each bunch will have 12 stemmed roses. These are Dutch roses which can be kept up to one week,” said G M Diwakar, president of KR Market Flower Vendors Association.
However, Horticulture Additional Director Parashivamurthy denied less yield of roses.
“Farmers prune rose plant in November. It needs 45 days to 50 days to grow. These plants will produce flowers in the first week of February. The demand for roses rises in February,” he said.