Women harvest flowers at a farm in Hemmadi, Udupi. Photos by author and Shivashankar Devadiga Hemmadi
In winter mornings, as the dew drops start falling, Yashoda, Shobha, Kanaka and Jalaja get ready at a farm in Hemmadi village in Udupi district. The women prepare to pluck ‘Hemmadi sevantige’, an indigenous variety of chrysanthemum. The flower, known for its smaller, rounder shape and unique aroma, has been grown by local farmers for many generations.
Hemmadi village lies on the banks of Chakra river in Kundapur taluk, where the local chrysanthemum variety is grown. The flower is also grown in the nearby Kattu and Jaladi villages. The crop’s life cycle spans roughly six months, from September to February.
The period does vary, as some farmers carry out the transplantation in August itself, depending on the weather condition. Bloomed chrysanthemums are harvested from January to March. After the harvest season ends, the plants die and new plants are grown by cutting and replanting the roots of the older plants.
Devotees in Kundapur exclusively offer Hemmadi chrysanthemum during the local temple fair, which is celebrated from Makara Sankranti to Kumbha Sankranti (mid-January to mid-February). Nagendra Bhat, a temple priest at the Sri Brahmalingeshwara temple in Marankatte says it has been an ancient tradition here to offer Hemmadi sevantige to the deity. During the temple fair, the temple witnesses a footfall of around 8,000 devotees per day, and a majority of them offer these flowers.
Shivashankar Devadiga, one of the chrysanthemum growers in the region, has cultivated the flower in half an acre of land. He has been cultivating the flowers for the last four years, and his father has been cultivating the flowers for 45 years. Shivashankar says that 25 years ago, the flowers were supplied as garlands (‘maale’) to various regions, including Mangaluru, Udupi, Karkala, Bhatkal and Honnavar. However, due to declining cultivation, the supply is now limited to Kundapur and surrounding areas.
Cold weather is a prerequisite for the Hemmadi chrysanthemums to grow. The dewdrops aid the process of blooming. However, white fly menace and a non-favourable climate due to increased humidity have forced farmers to shift from the cultivation of the flower in the past few years.
Shivashankar has been successful in mitigating the white fly menace to a great extent, by implementing suggestions from the horticulture department. He increased the gap between the rows of plants to control the white flies and used plastic mulching, which helps retain moisture and aids the growth of useful bacteria.
Shivashankar also adds that growers in the vicinity of Jaladi faced a new problem — after the saline water from the Rajadi vented dam started flowing into farms, the growth of the plants was seriously hampered.
Chaitanya, an assistant professor in Horticulture at the Zonal Agricultural and Horticultural Research Station, Kundapur, says that Hemmadi sevantige is a farmer-identified variety. “What makes Hemmadi chrysanthemums different apart from the size, bright-yellow colour and aroma, is the unique reddish-coloured disc florets found in the mature flowers. This feature is not found in other varieties,” he explains.
The cultivation of this variety has come down, as some farmers have started growing more common varieties grown in Bengaluru, Mysuru and Kolar regions such as ‘scent yellow’, ‘chandini’, ‘poornima’ and ‘kasturi’, collectively referred to as ‘ghati sevantige’.
Efforts towards GI tag
This year, Hemmadi sevantige flowers are being grown in around 30 acres in Hemmadi and the surrounding region, says Nidheesha A J, senior assistant director of the Horticulture Department Kundapur. Last year, the flower was grown in 50 acres.
The cultivation and produce have diminished by almost 30 to 40%.
The department has suggested control measures to growers, and several of them have been found successful. A plan is in the pipeline towards availing the Geographical Indication (GI) tag for Hemmadi sevantige.
Lok Sabha MP Kota Srinivas Poojary says he has submitted a proposal to the central and state agricultural departments, to come up with measures to support Hemmadi sevantige growers. “The idea is under the consideration of both the governments,” he adds.
The MP further stresses that festivals in the region are inextricably linked with Hemmadi chrysanthemum. The flower is an integral part of the tradition, so preserving the floral variety is a priority.
Satish Hemmadi, chrysanthemum grower and a member of the Hemmadi Hoovu Belegarara Sangha, says the association has around 70 members. Due to white fly menace and high humidity, growers have suffered major crop loss, he adds. For instance, last year, only one lakh flowers were harvested in the place of five lakh flowers from January to April in his farm.
The flower-harvesting labourers are paid Rs 40 for every 1,000 flowers. On an average, four to five labourers pluck a total of 50,000 flowers in a 25-cent farm in a day. Later, collected flowers are strung by them or the family members of the growers.
Unlike ghati sevantige, the Hemmadi sevantige flowers are strung using banana fibre thread. A single string, locally referred to as ‘kattu’, contains 50 flowers. Later, farmers market the flowers themselves, at the stalls near the temples.