Chhatrapur: The ongoing lockdown in the wake of coronavirus outbreak has spelt doom for Ganjam district’s Kewda flower farmers.
Ganjam district’s Chhatrapur and Rangeilunda blocks are famous for Kewda industry. There are hundreds of processing units, locally known as bhatis, where the flowers are processed to extract essence in the villages of these blocks.
All these processing units have been closed since day one of lockdown, leaving flower farmers in distress. With no option left, the farmers have left the flowers on trees to wither.
According to Kamaraju Verma, a Kewda flower farmer, “The farmers pluck Kewda flowers and bring them home on a daily basis. There are some middlemen who buy these flowers from their houses. Then the flowers reach the processing units where the essence is distilled. Then the extracted essence is sent to different parts of the country. The essence is basically used in preparing attar, ‘Kewda jal’ and some paan masalas.”
“The lockdown has snatched away our only source of earning. The situation has come to such a pass that it has become too difficult for us to make ends meet,” complained Kamaraju.
Echoing the same, another farmer Gurudev Behera said whatever they earn from selling Kewda flowers is enough to run their families. “With the processing units remaining closed now, we are not able to sell our flowers. Consequently we have ended up spending the little savings that we have. It pains us seeing the flowers getting withered in sun on the trees.”
Both the farmers recently made a small video where they not only narrated their plight but also urged the Ganjam Collector to take steps to solve their problem. While the video has gone viral, the farmers duo hope the video will reach the Collector and he will definitely take steps to end their problem.
PNN