Punjab floriculturists hoping for post-covid bloom
BATHINDA: After facing losses in the last two harvesting seasons to Covid restrictions, floriculturists are worried about the future market prospects. Sowing for winter flower crops will commence in Augustseptember.
As a number of coronavirus infections have started showing a downward trend, floriculturists hope of improved market conditions in the religious and marriage season from October onwards, followed by state assembly elections early next year.
Since the Covid-19 outbreak in March last year, the demand for flowers has almost dried up. Several farmers had to plough the standing crop of flowers twice in the last one-and-a-half years because of dearth of buyers in Punjab and other states.
Gurvinder Singh of Khamano in Fatehgarh district cultivates gladiolus, marigold gerbera and other varieties on 20 acres. But as marriages turned into a lowkey affair and there were restrictions on religious functions, Gurvinder suffered a loss of around Rs 25 lakh.
“I was sowing gladiolus on 12 acres but I had to plough a field on two occasions without harvesting flowers. As sowing will commence in August, I am planning to reduce area under floriculture by 60%,” he said.
In Punjab, the area under floriculture remains between 2,100-2,400 hectares.
Marigold, gerbera, gladiolus, carnation, rose, chrysanthemum and lilium are among main varieties of flowers. Jalandhar-based progressive farmer Karanvir Singh Sandhu said sowing and maintaining flowers on one acre involves an investment of Rs 2.5 lakh. But there was hardly any sale from his seven-acre farm.
To reduce loss, he used cultivated flowers to store seeds for the next season. Sandhu foresees a challenging time ahead as the market is now flooded with artificial flowers as a replacement for most varieties. “I had about 7 acres area under different flower varieties. This year, I avoided the summer sowing of marigolds, which is mainly used in marriages and religious events. In the last few months, I managed to supply some stock to the Delhi market but payments did not materialise,” said Sandhu.
Another floriculturist Gurpreet Shergill from Patiala’s Majhal Khurd feels uncertainty in the market but plans to go ahead with preparing fields for the next crop.
“Farmers are planning to decrease farming area to minimise losses in case of pandemic relapses later this year,” he said.
Floriculture expert at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Dr Manjit Singh said: “Some units have started using dried marigold for manufacturing poultry feed. Farmers are being guided about this opportunity too. We hope that the flower industry will bloom again this season after Covid caseload has started witnessing a dip in the state,” he said.