The expansive beds of Asiatic and Oriental Liliums in one hectare horticulture farm of Wahid Sait in Coonoor are in full bloom. Unfortunately, due to the nationwide lockdown, the flowers in Mr. Sait’s farm, like those of hundreds of other floriculturists in the Nilgiris, will most likely be left to wither in the fields, due to a lack of demand for the flowers.
Apart from liliums, floriculturists in the Nilgiris also grow carnations, chrysanthemums and hydrangea. There are believed to be around 300 farmers growing flowers in the district, with an estimated 90 % of all harvested flowers being sent to Karnataka.
However, since the lockdown came into effect, the demand for Nilgiris flowers has fallen to record lows, with farmers now not harvesting any flowers to send to markets in Karnataka and parts of Tamil Nadu, said Mr. Wahid Sait, who is also the president of the Nilgiri Flower Growers’ Association. “I have been a floriculturists for more than two decades, but I have not experienced such a major threat to our livelihood,” said Mr. Sait.
Another small farmer growing carnations in the Nilgiris said that farmers such as himself had been advised to prune his flower beds to delay the onset of flowering by a few months. “However, this is a very uncertain times for farmers like myself, and growing flowers is labour intensive, more so than horticulture crops. If this situation continues, we will have to stop maintaining the plants till the pandemic gets over and we return to some semblance of normalcy,” he said.
Floriculturists here said that the industry employs more than 3,000 people, and called on the government to announce a financial package that will cover some of the losses sustained by farmers. “We also hope that the government will announce a loan waiver, as many of the small floriculturists have taken loans for setting up infrastructure,” said Mr. Wahid Sait.
Joint Director of Horticulture, Nilgiris district, Sivasubramaniam Samraj, said that the district administration, working alongside the horticulture department, had managed to offset the losses that could have impacted farmers growing horticulture crops by employing Farmers Producers’ Groups to procure and sell vegetable, open up cold-storage facilities for the storage of produce and other initiatives.
“However, the floriculturists have been affected because the industry is dependent on demand. So we have advised people growing carnations to prune their plants to delay flowering and have advised other mitigation strategies,” said Mr. Samraj. The horticulture department is also taking stock of the losses sustained by floriculturists and is preparing a report that will be handed over to the government.
