THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The dreams of 47-year-old M Mary Sheeba and seven other farmers were shattered after local flower merchants decided to buy pesticide-laden marigolds imported from Tamil Nadu. This decision severely impacted the group, who had been cultivating French and African marigolds on 50 cents of leased land within the Mazhuvannoor panchayat of Muvattupuzha, Ernakulam.
The preference for imported flowers led to a sharp decline in demand for locally-grown marigolds, forcing even the government farm at Mannuthy in Thrissur to plant only 700 marigold saplings this season.
The cancellation of Onam celebrations in schools, colleges, and offices in light of the Wayanad disaster has been a double blow to the farmers. Sheeba and her friends took a loan of Rs 25,000 from Kudumbashree to start marigold farming, aiming for good returns during Onam. However, they were disheartened when local flower merchants preferred marigolds from Tamil Nadu vendors over theirs.
“Our marigold flowers wilt within two days as we don’t spray pesticides. Contrary to this, Tamil Nadu marigold stays fresh for several days due to obvious reasons. Local merchants in Mazhuvannoor told us that their counterparts in Tamil Nadu would not provide other flower varieties if they didn’t take marigold from them. We are in dire straits and are hoping that the agriculture department will address our concerns, said Sheeba.
Ragini Ramachandran, a 68-year-old homemaker who ventured into marigold farming for the first time on 10 cents of land in Mazhuvannoor, plucked the flowers and used them as manure for her coconut trees after local flower merchants showed less interest in her produce. “I will never delve into flower farming anymore.
If I had grown vegetables, I could have earned decent returns. Seeing my plight, a local merchant agreed to buy a few kilos of marigold at Rs 50/kg, when the original price is between Rs 110-120/kg. If the state government had envisaged proper planning, flower farmers would not have suffered,” a dejected Ragini told TNIE.
Addressing the issue, Shihab Babu, agriculture officer at Mazhuvannoor panchayat, has asked the farmers to put up a stall for ten days near Krishi Bhavan to sell their produce.
“There is no guarantee of sales. However, we want to give it a try and help the flower farmers as much as we can. Kerala’s acidic soil leads to bacterial infection in marigold plants, resulting in smaller flowers. Our farmers produce flowers in small plots which increase production cost. In contrast, Tamil Nadu farmers benefit from alkaline soil and larger production areas, which result in lower production costs and better quality flowers,” said Shihab.
K S Baburaj, an employee at the government farm in Mannuthy, also noted the lack of demand for marigolds, despite planting only 700 of them.