Marigold Cultivation in Murshidabad

             

With the majority of the farmers in West Bengal experiencing low return from the Paddy cycle, WUA members from Mirzapur (East) Water User Association under Raghunathganj Block of Murshidabad district have taken to marigold cultivation and scripted their own success story. They have not only harvested a good profit but also could inspire other farmers to take up this profitable cultivation in the future.

The marigold cultivation came about when these farmers were looking for some remunerative crop to make use of a plot of land remaining fallow for some time near a Mango Orchard just within the command area.

The farmers approached the DPMU experts who suggested them to go for marigold cultivation.

After a hand holding support from the DPMU Murshidabad team, a demonstration centre for marigold cultivation was established . Marigold Flowers are picked once in 3 days beginning from 60 days after planting and they take 130-150 days in total from sowing to final harvesting.

The Marigold cultivation not only gave a good net profit but also reduced the water requirement to less than half. Economy of return from the 2 crops as reported by the farmers is given below:

	Cost of cultivation per Bigha (INR)	Gross Return(INR)	Net Return(INR)	Water Requirement (in mm)
Aman Paddy	4500	5400	900	1500
Marigold (late rain)	18840	84000	65160	650

Marigold is a year round crop with three cropping cycle i.e Late Rains (Mid July), winter (Mid October) and summer (Feb-March). Farmers of Mirzapur (East) WUA demonstrated that if Marigold is cultivated in Bengal during the late rain cropping cycle, it can fetch a premium price during the Puja festivals.