<p>Bright yellow and orange marigold flowers cover vast stretches of land at Bettani, a village 88 km from the City. The village literally looks painted in gold with the fully bloomed flowers.<br /> <br />But the heartbreakingly beautiful flowers do not lift the spirits of the farmers who have incurred huge losses due the price crash. <br /><br />Many said they had finished two harvests, but the flower had failed to repay the investment, leave alone fetch a profit. <br /><br />“We cannot even afford to pay for the workers who pluck the flowers,” said a grower to Deccan Herald. Some of the farmers who had brought the flowers expecting good price to the market, have left the flowers to rot on the plants that they will now plough into the ground, thanks to the crash in the demand from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. <br /><br />Krupamma, another grower told the paper that “We had grown flowers in eight acres spending about Rs 16,000. The fertiliser that we used too was expensive. Yet, we have burnt our fingers,” she said. <br /><br />Last year, during Ganesha festival and Ayudha Puja, the flower fetched good prices - being sold at over Rs 50 a kilo. Even on other days, it fetched Rs 30 per kilo. <br /><br />Bitten by the profit bug, the majority of the farmers at Bettani decided to grow marigold. But during the recent Ganesha festival, the price fell as low as Rs 10 per kilo. Right now, the price is a mere Rs 3. <br /><br />“There is no point in selling the flower, hence we are allowing them to wither in our fields,” said Krupamma’s son Sathyaraja. Similar is the situation at Chintamani, Chikkaballapur and Malur. <br /></p>
<p>Bright yellow and orange marigold flowers cover vast stretches of land at Bettani, a village 88 km from the City. The village literally looks painted in gold with the fully bloomed flowers.<br /> <br />But the heartbreakingly beautiful flowers do not lift the spirits of the farmers who have incurred huge losses due the price crash. <br /><br />Many said they had finished two harvests, but the flower had failed to repay the investment, leave alone fetch a profit. <br /><br />“We cannot even afford to pay for the workers who pluck the flowers,” said a grower to Deccan Herald. Some of the farmers who had brought the flowers expecting good price to the market, have left the flowers to rot on the plants that they will now plough into the ground, thanks to the crash in the demand from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. <br /><br />Krupamma, another grower told the paper that “We had grown flowers in eight acres spending about Rs 16,000. The fertiliser that we used too was expensive. Yet, we have burnt our fingers,” she said. <br /><br />Last year, during Ganesha festival and Ayudha Puja, the flower fetched good prices - being sold at over Rs 50 a kilo. Even on other days, it fetched Rs 30 per kilo. <br /><br />Bitten by the profit bug, the majority of the farmers at Bettani decided to grow marigold. But during the recent Ganesha festival, the price fell as low as Rs 10 per kilo. Right now, the price is a mere Rs 3. <br /><br />“There is no point in selling the flower, hence we are allowing them to wither in our fields,” said Krupamma’s son Sathyaraja. Similar is the situation at Chintamani, Chikkaballapur and Malur. <br /></p>
