Biswabrata Goswami
KRISHNAGAR, 8 OCT: In a blow to lotus farmers across several districts of South Bengal, this year’s production of the flower—a key element in the Durga Puja rituals—has plummeted due to severe floods and erratic rainfall. Farmers from districts known for lotus cultivation, such as East Burdwan, Nadia, Hooghly, East Midnapore, Birbhum, and Bankura, are reporting drastic losses, with yields halving compared to previous years.
In East Burdwan’s Kalna, farmer Subhash Mondal shared his plight: “I planted lotus in 12 ponds covering five acres of land, investing Rs1.2 lakh. This year, due to low production, I’m facing a loss of Rs 50,000.” Mondal, who has been cultivating lotus for over a decade, described the floods in September that ravaged the region, overflowing ponds and sweeping away countless lotus plants and buds.
Typically, each lotus plant produces around 20 blooms, and farmers harvest up to 20,000 flowers per acre during autumn. As demand soars ahead of Durga Puja, farmers usually begin storing their flowers in cold storage by mid-September. However, the floods came at a critical time, derailing their plans.
“We couldn’t store the flowers as planned because the floods hit just when storage was supposed to begin,” explained Biswarup Jha, another farmer from East Burdwan. “After the water receded, some plants regrew, but the heavy rainfall that followed destroyed the new buds, which could have produced a substantial number of blooms.”
The agriculture department has yet to release specific data on this year’s lotus production, but the impact is clear. Farmers are particularly strained as they face significant upfront costs to lease ponds, often paying Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000, and many have taken loans to finance their cultivation. With their yields decimated, financial losses are mounting.
In West Midnapore, farmer Sunil Dam leased his ponds for Rs 60,000 this year but expects his total income to be no more than Rs 15,000 due to low production. On top of this, Dam took out a loan of Rs 1 lakh to support his farming efforts. “We’ve told our customers about the shortage, but they are urging us to find a way to deliver,” he said, describing the immense pressure to fulfill obligations to wholesalers who had paid advances in anticipation of the festival season.
With lotus supplies dwindling, traders predict a sharp rise in prices in the coming weeks. “Right now, a single lotus costs Rs 35, up from Rs 15 last year, and prices could rise to Rs 100 as Durga Puja approaches,” said a flower trader from Nadia. This price surge is likely to affect both consumers and vendors, but the burden falls heaviest on farmers, many of whom are unsure how they will recover from this season’s catastrophic losses.
As wholesalers seek to meet demand, some have already turned to sourcing lotus flowers from Bangalore. “The traders will survive this crisis, but we are the ones facing ruin during the most important festival of the year,” lamented farmer Kailash Maity of Tamluk in East Midnapore.
For South Bengal’s lotus farmers, the usually prosperous Durga Puja season has instead brought financial uncertainty, as the combined impacts of flooding, erratic rainfall, and skyrocketing costs threaten their livelihoods.
Tags: #Lotus #Flood #ErraticRainfall #SouthBengal
