Even as the district is facing a crisis of water, many farmers of Malur have been successful in floriculture, cultivating a variety of flowers.
Most of the farmers are engaged in cultivating commercial flowers as dependence on rain for cultivation of traditional crops has become extremely difficult.
Waiting for the rains after ploughing and sowing is a tedious process. Cultivating horticultural crops by using drip irrigation was not found to be very successful.
As a consequence many farmers have turned their attention towards commercial flower cultivation using drip irrigation.
Farmers of the taluk in the villages of Lakkur, Pura, Kodalli, Kudur, Jagadenahalli, Jayamangala, Sampangere, Masthi, Chokkandahalli, Yeshwantapur, Kadathur, Baragur among others are engaged in cultivating a variety of commercial flowers.
People from urban areas use the flowers cultivated in this taluk for decoration during wedding, festivals and other auspicious occasions.
Dutch rose (a variety which has a comparatively mild perfume, has a great demand), aster, jasmine, crossandra, chrysanthemum, white lily and gladiolus are among the most cultivated flowers. Flowers which are used in festivities and ceremonies like jasmine and crossandra have a regular demand.
Button rose and Dutch rose is cultivated in an area of 472 hectares, the maximum in the taluk. Chendu mallige (a jasmine variety with thick bud) is grown in an area of 334 hectares.
Most of the cultivators bring their flowers to Bangalore and sell them here. Others give them to flower merchants. Dutch roses are packed in papers in 20 numbers each and sold in Bangalore. Each packet of 20 flowers fetches Rs 14 to 15.
Abdul Rauf, a farmer from Lakkur, says that he has been cultivating Dutch rose for the last three years.
“I spend Rs 15,000 to 20,000 on water and fertiliser for cultivating Dutch rose in an ares of one-and-a-quarter acres of land. Every month I sell around 4,000 packets of flowers”, he says.
“There is no adequate rain. Crops like tomato do not have a stable price in the market. It requires a lot of water to grow vegetables. Therefore farmers in our village grow Dutch roses in about 100 acres of land”, says Rauf.
“Under the present circumstances, farmers are well aware of flowers prices in the market. There is also opportunities for selling the flowers directly even if they have to travel long distances” says Rajanna of Pura.
“Malur is close to Bangalore. The farmer gets revenue everyday from flowers and get a better price compared to vegetables.
The transport cost is also less. Therefore the number of farmers cultivating flowers is increasing year by year”, says Assistant Director, Horticulture, H Manjnath.