Valentine’s Day rose sales bring cheer to Maval taluka

PIMPRI: Farmers in Maval taluka have sold around 2.25 crore roses during the recently concluded Valentine’s Day season. The sale of roses during the nearly 20-day season saw a turnover of Rs 25 crore.

Significantly, the farmers this year have received good prices for their flowers in the local market as compared to the foreign market.

Shivaji Bhegde, Chairman of Pune District Flower Producers Association, said that nearly 75 lakh roses were exported during the Valentine’s Day season while around 1.5 crore roses were sold in the local market.

“This Valentine’s Day season has brought cheer to the flower producers in the district,” Bhegde said. Maval taluka every year cultivates rose farming on around 1,500 acres of land. Nearly 1,200 farmers and corporate companies undertake the flower cultivation.

Roses were sent to the markets in Jaipur, Patna, Allahabad, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Mumbai and Pune from February 9 to 13.

Malhar Dhole, Secretary of the Talegaon Floriculture Park Flower Producers Cooperative Society, said that a flower sold abroad fetched an average price of Rs 12 while the flower sold in the local market for an average price of Rs 10.

The sudden rise in temperature during the last few days of Valentine’s Day increased the flower production and benefited the farmers, Dhole said. 

The drastic drop in temperature had reduced rose production by 15 to 20 per cent when the flowers were being exported, he said.