For Onam, marigolds from a floating raft

Youngster undertakes farming experiment in Vembanad backwaters

A small fraction of the millions of marigold flowers used during the annual Onam season to make floral carpets and decorate homes will come from a floating raft farming experiment undertaken by an enterprising young farmer in the Vembanad backwaters in Alappuzha’s Thanneermukkom panchayat. Sujit Swami Nikarthil, who has been into farming for over a decade, said he had put up marigold plants on about 400 sq.ft. of floating raft set up on bamboo frames and held together by coir geotextile with a bed of degraded water hyacinth. He said the flowers from the one-cent raft would be harvested for the Onam season. Floating raft agriculture, with water hyacinth forming the bed, has been experimented with extensively. It was found, over the last five years, that amaranthus flourishes on the floating raft beds, said K.G. Padmakumar, veteran agricultural scientist and director, International Research and Training Centre for Below Sea Level Farming, Kuttanad.