Dr. Parveen Kumar
It has been rightly said that, a person is born with flowers and dies with flowers. From cradle to grave, flowers are required throughout the entire life. No celebration or festivity is complete without them. Flowers play a vital role in our emotional well-being, ecosystems and cultural traditions. They enhance our lives by bringing beauty, conveying emotions, and contributing positively to our physical and mental health. They are a universal way to express love, sympathy, congratulations, and other sentiments thereby helping us to foster social connections and companionship. In agriculture sector, they play an important role in pollination, a vital process in food production and maintaining biodiversity. Like all plants, flowers contribute to the oxygen we breathe and help purify the air. They play a role in maintaining healthy soil by attracting beneficial insects and microbes. In this way, they help maintain the balance of ecosystems. Certain flowers are edible and used in culinary creations, while others have medicinal properties besides being used to create fragrances, essential oils, and other products with therapeutic benefits.
District Ramban in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is a rainfed one with just 5 to 6 percent of the area under assured irrigation. Size of land holdings is very less and farmers are mostly marginal. The topography of land is undulating which also is a barrier to farm mechanization. Maize and Wheat along with Paddy are staple crops grown in the district. Paddy is cultivated mostly in upper reaches. However, the productivity of these crops is low as compared to state or national average. The lack of timely rainfall, unavailability of market and other related factors has made farming a non remunerative enterprise for majority of the farming community in this district. Despite the hard work they put in growing traditional crops like Wheat and Maize, they always have found it a struggle.
The situation thus necessitates a shift from traditional crops to high value crops which are more remunerative and environmental friendly. A shift towards diversification with allied enterprises is the key for development of agriculture in this rainfed district. Diversification comes with various benefits. Farmer gets compensated from another enterprise in case of failure of one enterprise. Among the various enterprises, Marigold cultivation is fast emerging as profitable one and a reliable source of income with farmers, farm women and youths coming forward to take it as an entrepreneurial venture. Taking up its cultivation on a commercial scale requires a minimum investment on inputs and other machinery. On the contrary, farmers find cultivation of Marigold giving better returns. District Ramban in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is now a day’s quietly witnessing a transformation in is agricultural landscape.
Farmers’ especially youth and farm women from different villages of district have successfully turned them into entrepreneurs. In villages of Kabi, Gandri, Champa, Tulong, Dhalwas, Boon Bari, Sana the no. of farmers cultivating Marigold and the area under its cultivation is steadily on the rise. Abdul Majeed an innovative farmer from village Gandri cultivates marigold and gets an additional income of rupees 20,000 in a season. A young woman and a mother of four daughters, a farmwoman Ms. Mubina from village Boon Bari in Batote district of Ramban is an example for all others in this Chenab valley. With support from CSIR-II1M-Jammu she started raising Marigold a couple of years back. In a year, she takes two crops of Marigold and earns 10,000 in a year from a meagre 0.12 ha of land under marigold. She also took the lead in mobilizing her fellow farmers and farm women and has established a collective by the name of ‘Sehar Ki Duniya’; Sehar being the name of her smallest daughter. Not only Mubina, but other members of her group who are cultivating Marigold are earning. CSIR-IIIM upgraded her skills in Marigold cultivation and Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare provided her expertise and inputs, Horticulture planning and marketing department arranged for the necessary marketing support for her produce. Abdul Waheed and Altaf Katoch farmers from Kabi are also cultivating Marigold and getting handsome income. Similarly many other farmers have taken up Marigold cultivation as an enterprise. With active support and facilitation of various agencies and institutions working in this district, growers do not face any major challenge in production as well as marketing of Marigold. The marketing is done both in local market of Ramban as well as sent out of district in Udhampur and Jammu. There is a huge demand for flowers during festivities and as such fetch growers remunerative price. It is also promoting entrepreneurship among youth.
KVK-Ramban has also motivated youths to explore opportunities in cultivation of marigold. Trainings on scientific cultivation of Marigold have been conducted by KVK-Ramban. Youths are equipped with all relevant technical knowledge about scientific cultivation of Marigold that include raising of a healthy nursery, right time of transplanting, inter-culture and the role of pinching in getting a good crop. They are also provided with quality seed of Marigold Pusa Narangi (Red) and Pusa Basanti (Yellow) and also assured of a marketing support through KVK-Ramban. Hopefully, in the years to come Marigold will be a source of income and livelihood security for the farming community here.
The author writes on agriculture and social issues; can be reached at [email protected]
