LOSS FACED BY FLORICULTURE FARMERS DUE TO

COVID – 19
Floriculturists and traders suffer heavy losses as there is no
return on investment

The lockdown has hit the floriculture industry in the state with farmers under huge debts already.
It will take more than a year for them to tide over this.
Srikanth Bollapally, Director of South India Floriculture Association says, “Since there
has been no business for the past one month, we are estimating a loss of at least Rs 100
crore.”  Unlike vegetables and fruits, flowers are not considered as essential commodities.
With the lockdown in place, no wedding or big events are held where flowers are used.  Over
80 per cent  flowers in Karnataka are grown in Bengaluru Rural district including places like
Doddaballapur, Nelamangala, Anekal and Devanahalli as well as some parts of Tumakuru,
Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts.

Workers clear out plants from a polyhouse at a farm in Doddaballapur

near Bengaluru. Growers are not able to find any takers for their flowers
with markets closed following the nationwide lockdown

In Doddaballapur taluk, hundreds of farmers grow decorative flowers like Gerbera,

roses and carnation which are mainly cultivated in polyhouses. Narasegowda, who has been
growing Gerbera in his one-acre polyhouse for the last one and half years, has invested Rs 45
lakh. “I have six workers and have to pay them. With no sale of flowers, how can I pay them?’’
he asked. His family consists of 10 members.  Gowda says, “The government is giving rice and
wheat, but what about other items? Fortunately, we have three cows, and we are depending on
this revenue. We get Rs 6,500 every fortnight from selling milk.’’ 

Cows being allowed to feed on flower plants inside a

greenhouse near Bengaluru

DOWN THE DRAIN

Areas around Bengaluru and Hosur in neighbouring Tamil Nadu are considered ideal
for floriculture because of the climatic patterns, and hundreds of growers depend on flower
cultivation for their livelihood.

“Exports of cutflowers have completely stopped due to the disruption in air connectivity
and the lockdown,” said Keshava Murthy a floriculturist in Denkanikottai, who shipped an
average of 1.2 lakh roses a month to countries such as New Zealand and Malaysia.

Bollapally and Keshava Murthy said growers having greenhouses are forced to incur
huge operational costs as the plants have to be maintained even if there are no sales.
“Maintenance is crucial to protect the capital invested. Cutflower growers incur an expenditure
of about ₹1.5 lakh per acre to maintain the plants towards labour and fertilisers costs. This
expenditure is exclusive of the interest costs on the capital investments,” Bollapally said.

In districts such as Chikkaballapur, adjoining Bengaluru, small farmers have left their
fields of chrysanthemum and marigold unharvested, while several of them have started
uprooting the plants as they are unable to sell their produce.