With no hopes of COVID-19 lockdown being lifted and the opening of markets for selling his produce, Rajkumar S. Aland, a floriculture farmer from Kalaburagi, saw his flowers grown inside a polyhouse wither. He eventually clear the field. He lost the crop that would have earned him almost ₹ 1.5 lakh if there was no novel coronavirus menace.
He had set up the polyhouse on his plot in Nadi Sinnor village near Kalaburagi city three years ago with a hope of earning a good income by growing capsicum. With the assurance of a 50% subsidy from the government, he borrowed ₹45 lakh from a bank to establish his dream project that cost him ₹65 lakh. For his bad luck, he incurred heavy losses for the first two years after his capsicum crop was destroyed in rains and storms.
He shifted to floriculture in the third year. He cultivated four types of flowers, including marigold and chrysanthemum, in an acre covered by polyhouse. He harvested marigold fully and chrysanthemum partially and earned around ₹80,000. Before the chrysanthemum production reaches its peak, the lockdown was imposed, closing the markets, suspending transport facilities and restricting human movement. As a result, the unharvested flowers gradually withered.
“I have incurred losses for the third consecutive year. The good sale of marigold during Deepavali season gave wings to my hopes of continuing the feat with other flowers in the Ugadi season. However, the lockdown shattered my hopes. With markets closed and human movement restricted, I could not harvest and transport the flowers to the market. The flowers gradually withered and the unattended plants destroyed. Finally, I cleared the field using a machine. I could not repay any portion of my loan and pressure is being mounted with the bank issuing notice. The promised 50% subsidy has not been released even three years after the completion of the polyhouse project. I don’t know how I can come out of this crisis,” Mr. Aland told The Hindu on Tuesday.
