India: Farmers in parched village switch from sugarcane to gerbera flowers
But amidst this depressing sight of bright and blue skies at this time and vast stretches of land dotted with thorny bushes serving as fodder for goats and sheep, a handful of farmers still hold out hope. They have got together to cultivate gerbera, a flower plant popularly known as African daisy. For these farmers, it marks the beginning of an alternative to sugarcane cultivation requiring large quantities of water — a clearly unsustainable proposition today.
Farming of gerbera in Padoli is taking place in a controlled environment under polyhouses. There are at least 20 polyhouses that have popped up in this small village spread over 2,321 hectares with a population of 4,856 people. These are already bearing blooming flowers in hues of pink, red and yellow that are a visual delight in an otherwise dry land.
The Portuguese flower breeder Montiplanta, which has provided guidance and knowhow for gerbera cultivation through a tie-up with the state government, has been sufficiently impressed with the results on the fields. “They have even decided to call their next improved gerbera variety, Padoli,” claims a farmer.
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