A number of farmers in and around Azhagiya Manavalam near Tiruchi are busy cultivating “kozhi kondai poo” (Hen’s horn flower) which brings an assured return to them. Mostly, it is women who are more involved in raising the flower. There has been a growing demand for the flower as it is widely used in garlands by virtue of its serene colour.
The plant is cultivated on small land-holdings at various parts of the village and in neighbouring Tiruppainjili village. The plant registers full growth after three months when it is ready for harvest. “The flower can be harvested continuously for six months,” says Chithra, one of the villagers who has been harvesting the flower for the past two decades.
She said the flower needed proper care and should be carefully guarded against pests and insects.
“We have to apply pesticide and insecticide periodically once the field is ready for harvest for registering an assured harvest,” she said.
The daily per acre yield is 30 kg and it is readily marketed. “The flower merchants from Srirangam in make a beeline to the village daily to purchase the flowers,” says Perumayi Ammal, another farmer of the village.
The farmers said the flower was sold for Rs. 25 a kg on Friday. The demand for the flowers registers a peak during the marriage seasons when the price shoots up to Rs. 50.
Official sources said that villages in and around Azhagiya Manavalam was ideally suited for the flowers. It is raised in Uppliyapuram, Thuraiyur, and Thathaiengarpet blocks.
About 300 acres had been brought under the flower all through the district.
Raising this crop enriched soil fertility.
Most farmers resorted to raising any other horticultural crop or paddy, once the Hen’s horn flower is harvested completely.
Source : The Hindu
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