Srinagar, Aug 02: More than 500 farmers in Jammu & Kashmir’s Bhaderwah district who abandoned maize farming a decade ago have shifted to lucrative marigold production and are reaping the success of the cash crop which they said fetches much better returns than the traditional maize crop.
Ten years back, the farmers in Kellarh Valley were engaged in maize cultivation and later they turned their land into marigold production after the intervention of the government.
Hind Bhushan, a progressive farmer of Gajoth in Kellarh Valley, is one of the farmers who was among the few who took the initiative back to grow marigolds in 2007 after shifting from conventional maize crops.
“Maize was the traditional crop cultivated by our forefathers for generations. Earlier, we did not know about marigolds but the agriculture department helped us a lot to shift to marigolds as we were provided seeds on subsidy,” he said.
The national awardee farmer said after the seeds, they started producing the flower crop and tried to increase the land which also added to the marketing.
“I first started with 2 kanals of land and today I grow the marigold at some 40-50 kanals of land. We get better returns of the produce which is sent to many states,” he said.
Bhushan, who is also a member of the J&K Kissan Advisory Board, said in 2007 the village was not motorable and they used to take the seed on their shoulders for 8 kilometres.
“After the construction of the 8-km-long Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) road from Bhalla to Gajoth, the business of marigold flower growers flourished,” he said.
“But now all the panchayats in our village are connected with roads that gave a boost to the produce. When the market increased farmers joined the framing and today more than 500 farmers cultivate marigolds,” he said.
Bhushan said there is a good market for marigolds in Jammu and the produce from Bhaderwah is sent to Kolkata, Delhi. “In Jammu, 80 percent of the flower demand is met by Doda district only,” he said.
The farmers in Bhaderwah have also set up a Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) which has also helped to connect more farmers.
Rafakat Ali, another farmer from Gajoth is among the 300 farmers in the village who has been growing marigold over the past 13 years.
“Earlier, we would grow maize and pea. When we shifted to the flower crop we got a good market and our income doubled and we have been continuing. Almost every family grows the flower,” he said.
Ali said when they started the marigold farming the neighbouring villages and areas also got encouraged and they also shifted their focus to the same crop. “Now we send our produce directly to the mandi and every farmer is happy,” he said.
Director of Agriculture Production & Farmers Welfare, Jammu, K K Sharma said the marigold mission was a joint initiative of the Agriculture Department and the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM) Jammu.
“The IIM Jammu had provided the seed and we identified the beneficiaries and distributed the seeds and cultivated the seed,” he said.
Sharma said all the ten districts in the Jammu division now cultivate the marigolds at a massive scale and the cultivation has been further increased.
“Now under the aegis of Floriculture Mission, we are taking it forward. After loose flowers, we would be focusing on cut flowers and other varieties. We are working in this regard,” he said.
