Floriculture farmers are grappling with waterlogged fields and diseased crops as rain continues unabated here in Hosur. While rain has hit floriculture in both open fields and polyhouses, the excessive rainfall has affected open fields largely cultivated by small and marginal farmers around Hosur.
“Farmers cultivating in open fields are the worst hit. The fields are water-logged, and the roots have begun to rot,” says Bala Siva Prasad, president, Hosur Association of Small Farmers and Director, National Horticulture Board. The association has close to 600 small farmers as its members.
The crisis in the flower growing fields is felt in the steep fall in the arrival of flowers in Hosur’s flower trading market. Hosur’s flower trading centre witnesses an average of 250 tonnes to 300 tonnes of flowers arriving daily. With the rain, the quantum of flowers has fallen steeply to less than 50 tonnes, says Mr. Siva Prasad. An estimated 15,000 acres under floriculture in Denkanikottai, Thally, Kelamangalam, Bagalur, Shoolagiri, and Rayakottai surrounding Hosur are hit by the rain, he says.
Similarly, Hosur market also receives flowers from other flower growing regions of the State. With the rain continuing, the arrivals of Jasmine, Arabian jasmine, Oleander and Crossandra from other growing regions to Hosur are negligible. These flowers are largely Bengaluru bound, but the heavy rain and traffic snarls in Bengaluru, and the resultant blockade have also contributed to the drop in quantity.
The crops in the open fields are already affected with disease such as mildew, leaf black spot, root rot and flower rot. As for the polyhouses, inadequate sunlight and also waterlogging have hit the crop. Many polyhouses downstream are also waterlogged.
“With the waterlogging, it is difficult for the workers to get down on the field to work. The fields need to be maintained. With no sunlight and continuing rain, the production for Dussehra and Deepavali will be hit,” predicts Mr. Prasad.
The planting begins 90 days before Dussehra and Deepavali to meet the festival demand. “The planting commences in June-July and the fields will have be constantly tended to,” he says.
The impact of the rain was seen in the lull in flower trading during Vinayakar Chaturthi when flower prices were high. The production was low, quality of flowers poor, but the demand was high pushing up the prices. The prices were high due to low supply and high demand, says Mr. Prasad.
If the rain continues, the price of flowers will skyrocket during Dussehra and Deepavali, with a fall in production, he says.
