the goan I network
SANGUEM
The orchids at the plantations in Kurdi, Wadem and Netravali in Sanguem taluka are in full bloom and should ideally have earned lakhs of rupees to the young entrepreneurs who have pursued orchid plantations.
But that was before the lockdown and now, these same farmers are, instead, staring at huge losses.
This is the plight of about 10 orchid farmers in Sanguem taluka, who decided to venture into orchid plantation around two years ago.
When they started the cultivation, the 10 farmers had encountered problems with the contractor who had supplied the seeds and technical know-how and the banks granting the loans.
The young farmers were on the verge of leaving the business midway, when a few trips to the Secretariat and some meetings with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant changed things to some extent. The chief minister intervened and with a subsidy from the government, some relief was offered to the farmers in the repayment of the loan amount.
After facing initial hiccups, the farmers had hoped for a brighter future when they were hit by the lockdown on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the absence of workforce, the flowers have not been harvested for over a month and with no market to sell their flowers, this has caused severe anxiety to the orchid farmers.
Satish Gaonkar, a farmer who owns one such polyfarm spread across an area of 3,000 sq mtrs, said he had invested around Rs 50 lakh in the project after obtaining a bank loan.
“With the assistance from Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, I managed to make part payment of the dues and was happily waiting for the months of March, April and May to earn a sizeable amount of money and clear the loan,” said Gaonkar.
“I used to earn around Rs 1.5 lakh per month from the sale of flowers and was quite happy with the earnings, despite the initial hardship and loss I had to face.”
“But now with the lockdown, the situation is very bleak and there are no chances of recovery unless the government provides some relief to orchid farmers in the State.”
“Like other agriculture produce, flowers are perishable and have a short life span. If they are not harvested in the next few days, there will be no market for the fully bloomed shoots,” informed Gaonkar.
Another farmer, Sadanand Gaude, said two contractors initially took their first harvest and never paid for the yield.
“We had lodged a police complaint against these contractors at the Canacona police station. But nothing has happened since then and we had suffered initial losses. Now, we have been hit yet again, this time by the lockdown, which could ruin our business after all the hardship and difficulties we faced in the initial years,” said Gaude.
The orchid farmers have now appealed to the government for some assistance to enable them continue orchid cultivation in the State.
