Flower growers wilting in Madhya Pradesh as buyers stay away

Bhopal: Blooming flowers dotting the vast expanse of agriculture fields in Berkhedi under Neelbad panchayat, around 35km from Bhopal, this rabi season have failed to cheer up the local farmers.

Most of the flower cultivators have allowed their standing crops to rot, as they found no buyers, thanks to the cash-crunch caused by the demonetisation of two high-value currency notes by the Centre.

Majority of farmers in Berkhadi village, having a population of around 1,000, have gone for lucrative flower cultivation this season, expecting good money. Most of them have a good yield of their crops.

However, the demonetisation came as a curse for them as the cash-strapped vendors showed little interest to purchase their farm produce. The mandi (government procurement place) was closed on November 8 and  opened on Tuesday. But, the traders bidding for the farm produce refused to pay cash to the farmers, citing cash-crunch and wanted to pay in cheque.“But, it will take at least a week to get money if we accept the cheque. By then, the standing crops would be rotten,” said a farmer. The crisis has led to sharp decline in flower prices.

“We used to sell flowers at Rs 20 per Kg. But the middlemen are now bidding a price of Rs 20 for 16kg. Hence, almost all of the flower cultivators left their standing crops to rot,” Ram Swarup Kushwaha (65) told this newspaper. He said the cash-crush brought miseries to his family of seven like other farmers in his village. “I don’t have even money to pay school fees of my four grandchildren,” he said, adding, “The villagers have started sharing essential commodities among them to feed their families”. “We are totally broke,” said Bharilal Kushwaha, another farmer from the village.