Agriculture Minister P. Prasad and others harvesting marigolds on Monday. | Photo Credit: SURESH ALLEPPEY Agriculture Minister P. Prasad’s residence at Cherthala has turned into a colourful spectacle with varieties of marigolds in full bloom adorning the compound. The harvest of around 3,000 marigold plants cultivated on 30 cents of land with an eye on Onam began on Monday (September 9).It was jointly inaugurated by two elderly neighbours of the Minister – Janaki and Padmakshi.Mr. Prasad has cultivated three varieties of marigolds – yellow, orange and white. The Minister said that last year’s good harvest and profit motivated him to take up flower farming again. He turned to floriculture for the second year in a row after taking a break from vegetable farming. In 2023, Mr. Prasad cultivated 2,500 marigolds and 250 globe amaranth for Onam.People can buy flowers from the Minister’s residence at reasonable rates. Besides Mr. Prasad, several individual farmers, women’s self-help groups and farmer groups among others in Cherthala taluk have undertaken the cultivation of marigold, Ceylon slitwort, globe amaranth, and so on in large tracts of land, eyeing the Onam demand for flowers. Many of the gardens are attracting visitors with people finding them ideal places for photoshoots.Reducing dependencyIn Kanjikuzhy grama panchayat, floriculture has been undertaken on several acres as there is a huge demand for locally produced chemical-free flowers for laying floral carpets. An increase in production locally is reducing dependency on flower imports from neighbouring States.Alappuzha district panchayat vice president N.S. Sivaprasad, Pattanakkad block panchayat president Geetha Shaji, Cherthala municipal chairperson Sherly Bharghavan, heads of various grama panchayats and others attended the function. Published – September 09, 2024 06:09 pm IST