THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There has been a steep increase in the sale of organic manure and fertilizers ever since March 24 when the lockdown was enforced due to Covid-19 pandemic. Most of the families who have at least a small bit of land are engaged in a few hours of farming or gardening to beat the boredom thereby enabling them to stay at home and eat healthy home-grown vegetables.

Over the past several days social media has been abuzz with how largescale nurseries in the state and across the border have been facing the heat with scores of their plants dying down in the scorching summer. Initially, the local police were reluctant to issue pass for nursery owners.  The most-affected lot was those nursery owners whose business was not attached to their homes. 

After two to three weeks of lockdown, when majority of the nursery owners opened their business they decided to tap in on the trend by stocking up organic manure, fertilizers, bone meal, coir pith compost, plant pots and more. Latha Sudheeran of Sougandhikam Gardens at Kallampally here incurred several thousands of rupees loss after she could not repot the plants that had come in small grow bags from Thrissur.

“Over the last few days, I am on a cleaning spree and at the same time repotting the plants. These days, I have been getting queries from city dwellers demanding organic manure and other fertilisers as they are on a vegetable farming spree,” said Latha Sudheeran to TNIE. Government-run Kerala Agro Industries Corporation is also doing roaring business. S Sajeev, divisional engineer, Agro Super Bazar, Thiruvananthapuram, confirmed to TNIE that over the last two weeks they have been doing brisk business.
“Before the lockdown, we used to have sales worth `4 lakh per day when we were open from 10 am t0 5 pm. But post lockdown, we are doing business worth more than `3 lakh when it is open just for a few hours,” said Sajeev.

Certain items like bone meal are procured mostly from Tamil Nadu and neighbouring districts. With inter-district vehicular movement banned during the lockdown, the authorities are finding it difficult to procure farming requirements. Agri Horti Society, a quasi government organisation near Kanakakunnu Palace is also abuzz with activities. Its interim manager K K Sathyan told TNIE that there has been 30 per cent increase in sales where customers have been mostly looking for grow bags and potting mix.

Rupa D’Souza Mathew, a soft skill trainer said the decision to open Agri Horti Society has been like a blessing in disguise to tap her gardening skills. “My garden was having mostly foliage. But now with the lockdown, I have since developed it in to a flowering garden where I require pots, potting mix and manure. My 12-year-old daughter, Ritvika Reji Mathew too has got a green thumb now,” said Rupa.

Corporation begins farming activities
T’Puram: The city has begun vegetable farming on its office premises and terrace. Mayor K Sreekumar said the project was inspired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s call for largescale farming to deal with the possible shortage of food items in the post Covid-19 scenario.  

Saplings of spinach, chilli, brinjal, papaya and java apple were planted on the five-cent plot. Ecological engineering method - in which saplings of flowering plants, fruit and vegetable saplings are planted together- has been adopted. It will help in biological pest control, said the staff. Over 300 earthen pots are used for terrace farming and wick watering is employed.