Just when the cultivation of Marigold flowers at Aralam farm was turning out to be a huge success, thieves stole the flowers in over two acres of land, leaving the tribespeople in despair.
For residents of the Aralam farm, the marigold flower cultivation, started on a pilot basis by the Agriculture department and the Tribal Resettlement and Development Mission (TRDM) under the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme, was a huge success.
However, the stealing of flowers that were almost at the stage of harvest before Onam has created an uncertainty among the tribespeople, said C.K. Sumesh, Assistant Agriculture Officer, who registered a complaint to the police about the theft.
Mr. Sumesh said that those behind the theft have not even left the buds, which would have fully blossomed into flowers by Onam. This has caused them a loss of approximately ₹1 lakh, he said, and added that they were expecting to get at least ₹150 per kilogram for the flowers.
He further said that though few tribespeople guarded the region at night, they would leave back to their house after 11 p.m. fearing elephant menace. The flowers were stolen after they left, he said.
Efforts of 70 members of the total 250 tribes involved in the cultivation have gone futile as a result. Though Mr. Sumesh has registered a case in this regard, the police are yet to find a clue.
