The Sustainable Flower Economy - how long?

Each acre of land is fertile for flowers for 7 months of the year, from October to April. During that time it yields a growing amount of flowers as the year progresses, starting from 10 sackfulls per week to over 20 sack fulls each week. Each sackful has about 20 kgs of flowers, and each sells for 100 to 150 rupees, in a good year. So in a good season one could expect from 500 to 700 sackfulls of zafri, basanti and gainda flowers, approximating 10 to 15 tonnes. A revenue which amounts to about 8 to 9,000 rupees per month per acre, probably half of which would count for expenses. A sustainable use of land, and a sustainable livelihood alongisde a clean and healthy environment.

Also in the remaining five months are grown vegetables like cauliflowers, tomatoes, spinach, radish as also melons, 'kakri.' Some farmers also grow wheat and sugarcane.

Its mostly family labour, women who pluck the flowers. Relatives, or neighbors working from 4 to 6 hours per day, besides doing their housework and looking after the children. There would be a man on the field alongside, for often the flowers are sold as they are plucked as buyers line up for the fresh stocks. The flower pluckers seem like a well-knit group on any particular field, who chatter away tales of their day and the chores within. It sounds like a social time. Each field is plucked once a week, the time taken for the plants to bloom again, and 4 to 5 women do the task.

Not everyone who is seen plucking the flowers owns the land. Many also lease it for an annual rate of 10 to 15 thousand rupees each year. It is like a rent, and all inputs, raw materials and profit are of the farmer. Yet land is divided along the river stretch depending on the community living close by. So near the village of Hiranki, about 7 kms from Jagatpur, the farmers are from Haryana and speak Haraynvi. Further down, nearer to Palla village is the village of Jagrolla. This is inhabited mostly by Sikh families and the women on the field speak hard to understand Punjabi. Some farms also seem very affluent since there is always a luxury car like an Optra or a Honda, which is parked there.

The buyers who procure the flowers from the fields often in small lots of 20 to 30 kilos are garland makers, flower sellers, or home flower suppliers. The garland makers seem the most interesting. They would thread marigold garlands and sell them to truckers and tempo drivers to adorn their vehicle bonnets. Each morning, very early, say at 3 am, the farmers take the unsold produce to the Fatehpuri mandi. Here buyers converge from all parts of the city and also outside it. It is the biggest flower mandi around, and all flowers are sold off between 7 am and 10 am. A retail kilo sells at 20 rupees a kilo though, and that is the cost of transportation and the trader margin I suppose.

However the threat of change hangs heavy on the fields now. The Delhi Assembly is debating that all 'rural' land be now urbanized. Changed into concrete and mortar. The Delhi Development Authority is proposing channelising the river into a concrete drain and build on the land on either side of it. Land is priceless in Delhi and flowers redundant it seems. Already it is said that the Government has acquired several thousand acres of land from farmers near Jagatpur village. There are big plans afoot. The Flower Economy may soon be of the past!