ADILABAD: Marigold flowers grown by farmers in Adilabad district are reaching the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, opening up a lucrative market for local growers who are earning good returns with relatively low investment and less water.
Farmers in Battisavargaon and Khajjerla villages are turning to floriculture as an alternative to water-intensive crops. Their produce is being transported to Ayodhya through contractors, while officials are encouraging more farmers to cultivate crops that require less water, particularly in view of the expected El Nino impact.
Bomalla Swamy, a farmer cultivating marigolds on two acres, said he earned around Rs 2 lakh per acre last year. This year, he invested Rs 40,000 per acre and expects returns of Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh.
He purchased seedlings from a nursery in Gudithanoor at Rs 7 each and is selling the flowers to a contractor at Rs 40 per kg for transportation to Ayodhya. The contractor also paid him an advance of Rs 10,000 towards flower transportation.
Swamy said flowers fetch around Rs 80 per kg in the open market, where demand has increased during the Bathukamma, Dasara and Deepavali festivals.
Another farmer, Koppula Kiran, is cultivating flowers alongside organic vegetables and expects to earn around Rs 3 lakh per acre.
Khajjerla sarpanch A Narayana Reddy said the village was promoting horticulture and low-water crops during the kharif and rabi seasons. He said the supply of flowers to Ayodhya began after temple representatives were impressed by flowers sent to a temple in Thadvai village of Kamareddy district.
Adilabad Collector Rajarshi Shah visited the farms and interacted with growers about cultivation costs, yields and returns. He said the administration was creating awareness through gram sabhas about crops requiring less water. Farmers could earn around Rs 2 lakh per acre with an investment of Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000 and yields of four to five tonnes, he said.
The collector said the administration would work towards providing drip irrigation facilities. He also advised farmers to consider low-water crops after soybean harvest instead of water-intensive crops such as maize.
