Despite Kerala celebrating Onam, flower growers from in and around the district have expressed concern over the poor sale of seasonal flowers here on Saturday.
With just two days more for the Onam festival, flower markets and vendors from different parts of Kerala, who used to procure at least 20 tonnes of seasonal flowers over the last one week or 10 days as a mark of the celebrations, had not lifted the produce in a big way.
“Just about 5 tonnes of flowers has been despatched till yesterday,” said Ibrahim, a flower grower.
Farmers from Ammapatti, Vellodu, Narasingapuram, Perumalkoilpatti, Nilakottai and Pugayilaipatti who had grown flowers extensively were in a state of shock as they had ended up in a huge loss.
“We expected the merchants to come and buy for the Onam festival in Kerala... but, everyone had attributed the COVID-19 pandemic as a reason and that the festivities were happening in a lowkey way there...” they added.