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Life is not a bed of roses for 'em

Flowers brighten up special occasions but their growers have little to cheer about, writes B. Madhu Gopal

Where flowers bloom so does hope --- Lady Bird Johnson

What's the most striking feature that catches the eye when one enters a wedding hall? A vast majority of guests vouch for the stage decoration. Needless to say, flowers are the first things that come to mind when most Indian weddings are solemnised.

The demand for fresh flowers and bouquets during the wedding season goes up by leaps and bounds, resulting in the skyrocketing of their cost.

Flowers in various hues and shapes flood the market to catch up with the demand. Roses, jasmines, lilies, marigolds, chrysanthemums... the list seems endless. Some employ professional decorators to add glitter to the stage. Petals of fresh flowers glued on cardboard or plywood boards and projected neatly at the entrance of the venue and in front of the stage are a treat to watch.

While big businessmen are making a fast buck, floriculture farmers who toil from morning to evening on their fields are finding it difficult to make both ends meet. The fluctuating prices of flowers and their short life is adding to their woes.

Scores of farmers from villages in Visakhapatnam and from the neighbouring Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts converge at the Vemulavalasa Market Yard, at Anandapuram on the outskirts of the city, with baskets of flowers soon after dawn.

The rates fall by half or more as the day progresses. In the absence of cold storage facilities farmers cannot afford to keep them for long in the scorching sun.

The rates vary every few hours. Apart from fluctuating prices, farmers are also hit by the levying of charges for using the market yard, high transportation and pesticide costs.

Farmers' woes

"High production costs and overhead expenses are depriving us of the meagre profits we manage to make. However, this is the only work we can think of and hence we continue to do it", says Sivvada Adilakshmi of Pandalapaka village.

"Though the prices have gone down this year, the sales are very dull. Right now we are selling `banthi' (marigold) for Rs.15 a kg, roses at Rs.20 for 100 flowers and jasmine at Rs.60 a kg," chips in S. Appa Rao of the same village.

B. Ranga Reddy, a farmer from Konda Velagada village of Nellimarla mandal in Vizianagaram district, sounds more optimistic. "We sell hybrid roses at Rs.20 for 10 roses and Kolkata banti (marigolds from Kolkata) for Rs.20 a kg or more. The prices fluctuate and are dependent on the demand supply gap.

The sales in February were good but again there is a lull now. We hope it will pick up soon," he adds. Siva, a petty flower vendor at Tekkali in Srikakulam district, had come all the way to Anandapuram to buy flowers at the yard. "There is good demand for fresh flowers in Tekkali but they are not grown there," he says.

Hotspot

Akkayyapalem is the hotspot for fresh flowers and garlands in the city. There are a few traders who have been in business for over a decade now. "We get stock from Anandapuram, Vizianagaram and Rajahmundry.

The sales were good till February but there is a lull this month," says R. Raju, who has opened shop here 18 years ago. He has employed eight workers to make garlands and help him in the decoration work.

"Apart from selling fresh flowers and garlands, we also take up floral decoration for weddings.

The cost of decoration depends on the availability of flowers and the paying capacity of the party. The cost ranges between Rs.5,000 to Rs.20,000 and in rare cases it can go up to Rs.1 lakh," he says.

He maintains a photo album of floral decorations done for weddings to attract prospective customers.

These include decoration of `mandapam', car and the room in which the bride and groom spend their first night.

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