The crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the recent spell of unseasonal rains played a spoilsport for flower growers mainly the marigold farmers with sharp slump in demand for flowers in the prime floral festival Bathukamma season.
Marigold farmers in Rahgunadhapalem, Konijerla, Bonakal and a few other mandals bore the brunt of the recent bout of untimely rainfall. The unseasonal rains hit the farmers in the crucial harvesting season, dashing their hopes of good returns in the Bathukamma and Sarannavaratri festival season. The low yield of flower produce due to reasons like rain devastation and the decline in the overall area under marigold cultivation in the district this year has led to a sharp rise in the price of marigold in the market. But there are a very few takers for the flowers, the cost of which almost tripled from ₹50 to ₹60 per kg last year to anywhere between ₹150 to ₹200 per kg this year.
In the absence of a flower market, a long-felt demand of flower growers in the district, some greedy middlemen are minting money by exploiting the upsurge in prices of marigold, depriving the farmers of remunerative price, sources said.
We have cultivated marigold against all odds by incurring high production cost during the coronavirus lockdown a few months ago, recalled Premalatha, a marigold grower of Raghunadhapalem.
"The recent bout of untimely rains caused extensive damage to the flower plants," she rued, deploring that they were left in dire straits in the midst of the floral festival season.
The sowing and transplanting operations were impacted by the coronavirus induced crisis in July and August that resulted in marked decline in the area of marigold cultivation in the district this year, says Horticulture Officer, Khammam, G Sandeep Kumar.
