close
Friday March 29, 2024

Rose producers fear loss due to heat, virus attack

HYDERABAD: The growers and traders in Sindh’s biggest Hatri garden have warned that they are facing immense loss due to abrupt heat waves, dryness and viruses infecting the plants, this season. “It is for the first time we have experienced this huge loss of the product, which affects all the

By Jan Khaskheli
July 28, 2015
HYDERABAD: The growers and traders in Sindh’s biggest Hatri garden have warned that they are facing immense loss due to abrupt heat waves, dryness and viruses infecting the plants, this season.
“It is for the first time we have experienced this huge loss of the product, which affects all the people depending on flowers for livelihoods, including growers, traders and picking workforce,” said Majeed Mallah, a grower cum trader while talking to The News.
“We are used to deal with the viruses and heat waves, but the rose plants seemto have been ruined and we cannot identify the diseases,” he said, “In result we are unable to get its proper rates at markets.”
Mallah is leading the fourth generation of his family in rose cultivation business.
The traders have a deal with growers to take products—variety of flowers as per season-- to market from the field for two—three years. Following this kind of agreement, growers bear the cost of rose picking in the field, while traders make arrangements for transportation and other expenses to bring it to the market.
For example, traders had to pay Rs37 per kg of famous Gulab Roses at the fields to growers but now after bearing losses the payments have declined to Rs20—28 per kg. The situation is that the roses are losing fragrance due to the heat waves and sudden viral attacks, which even weaken plants.
The flower, especially red rose, has been a symbol of love and beauty due to its catching colours, variety and odour. Labourers carrying baskets can be seen busy in picking roses in a field early in the morning daily. A large area is permeated with fragrance from the rose field, located at a close distance from the main National Highway.
According to senior growers, rose is a fragile and perishable item. It neither survives in heat nor in the freezing cold. It needs normal weather.
In interior Sindh herbal oil, Arq-i-Gulab and perfume producers approach growers and prefer to buy roses from fields which have not been sprayed with pesticides.
But now, the farmers are experiencing tough situation in terms of changing weather pattern, deteriorating law and order in urban centres and water shortage, which have compelled them to find alternative crops for cultivation.
Now, when the area receives the first shower the farmers say rain is always favourable for rose crop and its production. They said that presently the rose product is being supplied to Karachi from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and parts of Balochistan, because there is favourable weather as compared to Sindh.
The roses cannot be kept for more than two to three days. January to March is peak season for variety of flowers and farmers get 40—60 kg of roses per acre, while during June and July the product usually declines to two-five kg per acre. But they argue that four varieties including Gulab are considered in-demand in the urban markets. That is why they depend on this product but the recent sudden weather pattern has affected the product and the roses are declining fragrance.
The growers said they pick roses early in the morning and supply them to the markets within three to four hours. In Karachi, traders and shopkeepers use ice to keep roses safe. But in local markets like Hyderabad, buyers strictly dislike use of ice. Therefore, the shopkeepers have to keep them in open warehouses.
The traders do not have data but said they have borne more loss due to this sudden emerging situation. The worsening law and order situation, persistent water shortage and newly emerging situation has created fears for the producers and traders of this fragile product. It is feared that if the situation continues, then other growers may also not plant roses in future.
Rose gardens need proper care and timely water. They needs lower cost for cultivation as compared to other crops. But since it is the most sensitive crop, it needs moderate weather for growing.
There were more flower gardens along the National Highway, Matiari and Hyderabad districts. Hatri was considered a major market of roses of different varieties some years back. In the wintering peak season, the traders used to come daily to get 40—45 truckloads of roses to transport them to different buyers in Karachi.
Traditional rose garden farmers have a long experience of rose cultivation. They take proper care of these plants, maintain water supply and explore better options for marketing. It is hard for them to cultivate alternative crops but despite fears and challenges, they are opting to cultivate other crops.
They demanded the government to establish cold storage facilities near the fields and help in identifying the sudden viral attacks and their solutions to save the main product, which provides sources of living to several families and is called a symbol of love.