Japan tsunami hits city rose growers hard!

Farmers are bearing the brunt of nature's fury because the tragedy-hit nation, which is one of the major markets for roses, has cut down import after the tragedy

As the Japanese have cut down on imports after the tragedy, prices of long stemmed roses grown in green houses have fallen dramatically this week. "Demand for roses used to be at its peak in March. We used to export over 50 lakh roses to Japan every month. However, after the tsunami, demand has dropped drastically, affecting our exports by over 50 per cent," said Dr Jayaprakash Rao, secretary of South India Floriculture Association.


Not a rosy picture: Out of the 1.5 lakh roses that come for auction
at the IFAB every day, only 50,000 are being sold. File pic

He added that they can't even sell the long stemmed roses grown in green houses in the city, because those grown in open field have flooded the local market. During this time of the year, around 5,000 roses are produced daily per hectare. In Bangalore, long stemmed roses are grown in over 100 hectare. Thus, the price of roses has dropped to an average of Re 1, whereas the production cost itself is Rs 2.

Heavy loss
Not only the floriculture association, but also the International Flower Auction Bangalore (IFAB) is struggling to find takers. "Out of the 1.5 lakh roses that come for auction at the IFAB every day, only 50,000 are being sold," said Dr Shankar Murthy, an official from IFAB. Arvind, a grower from Doddaballapur, said, "I get about 8,000 roses from my two hectare farm every day. Each rose costs me Rs 2.20, but the price at IFAB is a mere 70 paise per rose. I still have stock of 50,000 roses, but no takers."

Likewise, Mohan Raju, a rose grower, said, "The poor marketing facilities are also responsible for causing us severe losses. The government should come to the rescue of growers and should fix a minimum price." "It appears that big players have stopped buying from IFAB due to a slump in export. I am planning to distribute roses for free, as there is no one to hear our plight," he added.