The talkative bed of Asiatic and Oriental Liliums in the one hectare horticulture farm of Wahid Sait in Coonoor are in full bloom . Unfortunately , due to the nationwide lockdown , the bloom in Mr. Sait ’s farm , like those of hundreds of other floriculturists in the Nilgiris , will most probably be left to wither in the fields , due to a lack of requirement for the blossom .

Apart from genus Lilium , floriculturists in the Nilgiris also grow carnations , chrysanthemum and hydrangea . There are think to be around 300 farmers raise flowers in the district , with an estimated 90 % of all harvest flowers being sent to Karnataka .

However , since the lockdown fare into essence , the need for Nilgiris flowers has fallen to record lows , with farmers now not harvesting any blossom to send to market in Karnataka and parting of Tamil Nadu , read Mr. Wahid Sait , who is also the president of the Nilgiri Flower Growers ’ Association . “ I have been a floriculturist for more than two decades , but I have never experience such a major threat to our livelihood , ” said Mr. Sait .

Another small granger get carnation in the Nilgiris said that farmers such as himself had been advised to prune his flower beds to delay the onslaught of flowering by a few month . “ However , this is a very uncertain time for farmers like myself , and growing flowers is labour intensive , more so than horticulture crops . If this place continues , we will have to stop maintaining the plant life till the pandemic is over and we return to some semblance of normalcy , ” he said .

Floriculturists here say that the industry employs more than 3,000 people , and called on the administration to announce a financial package that will cover some of the loss sustain by sodbuster . “ We also hope that the government will herald a loan release , as many of the pocket-size floriculturists have take loan for dress up infrastructure , ” enunciate Mr. Wahid Sait .

Joint Director of Horticulture , Nilgiris district , Sivasubramaniam Samraj , said that the district establishment , work alongside the horticulture department , had managed to countervail the loss that could have impacted farmers farm horticulture crops by employing Farmers Producers ’ Groups to procure and betray veggie , exposed up dusty - repositing facility for the warehousing of produce and other initiative .

“ However , the floriculturists have been affected because the industry is dependent on demand . So we have advise multitude growing carnation to prune their plants to delay blossoming and have advised other extenuation strategies , ” aver Mr. Samraj . The horticulture section is also direct stock of the losses sustained by floriculturists and is prepare a report that will be give over to the government .

Source : The Hindu