Grower News

A farmer destroying his full blossom flower field on the outskirts of Jammu due to lack of marketing owing to countrywide lockdown. Cultivators, traders suffer heavy losses

Avtar Bhat

JAMMU, Apr 25: With nationwide lockdown to continue till to May 3 and the business of every sort coming to a standstill all over the country, the flower growers of Jammu region have started uprooting their flower plants which were in full blossom as there is no market available to their produce.
According to sources, the flower growers in entire Jammu region have started ploughing their fields by uprooting the flower plants of various varieties which were in full blossom as they have suffered a heavy loss due to ongoing lockdown and lack of demand. Sources said seeing the increasing demand of flowers day by day for last some years, the more and more farmers in the Jammu region right from Lakhanpur to Poonch and Kishtwar districts had started cultivating the flowers.
Sources said the Basmati growers of R S Pura, Samba, Kathua and Akhnoor belt were cultivating flowers up to beginning of May and later they were readying their fields for cultivation of Basmati. But this time as flowers have no demand and farmers were put to heavy loss they have started uprooting the full blossom flower plants and ploughing their fields to prepare the land for new crop, sources added.
They said either it is brightly coloured roses, chrysanthemums, lilies, marigold and other flowers that might normally have been destined for ‘pooja’, expression, decoration in marriages and hotels, are now being destroyed by growers in unprecedented manner as the rapidly spreading Coronavirus brings demand to a standstill.
Ajay Kumar a farmer of Rampur in Vijaypur, tehsil of Samba district who grows flowers in his 17 Kanal agriculture land said he had spent over Rs 50,000 on cultivation of the crop and they expected a good harvest this year. “But due to the lockdown we could not even sell a kg of flowers during the last one month and with the lockdown continuing up to May 3 there is no hope of the sale in coming days picking up with the result we have been put to heavy loss”, he added.
Another flower grower Ganga Ram of the same village said over 100 kanals of land in the Rampur village is under the flower cultivation and April -May were good months for the flower growers but this year all their hopes were dashed to ground as they could not sell even a kg of flowers. “Earlier we used to sell the flowers at Mandi in B C Road Jammu and were also supplying them at various temples”. “We had a good earning during this season every year which enforced us and other farmers in the area to convert more agriculture land for cultivation of flowers”, he added.
He said “as there was a good crop this time and growers were expecting a good return but all our hopes were lost […]

Source: Lockdown forces flower growers to destroy full blossom crop during peak season