A sleepy village in Kerala’s Kottayam, where acres of paddy fields transmute into a sea of pink water lilies during monsoon, has hit a jackpot this season.
The flowers that roll out a pink carpet for tourists across 650-750 acres in Malarikkal village have helped the Thiruvarppu gram panchayat rake in ₹5 crore in less than five months.
O.S. Anishkumar, the gram panchayat president, told The Telegraph that the preliminary audited accounts reveal that they had an exceptionally successful tourist season this year and earned handsome revenues through parking fees, flower sales, restaurants, save-the-date photoshoots, boat fares and other small-scale businesses.
News about the flowers taking over the farmland circling Valiyaveetil Devi Temple in the village had spread by word of mouth, drawing in both domestic and international tourists over the last five months.
Anishkumar said 2,000-3,000 tourists had been flocking to see the ‘’pink paradise’’ every day.
“During the weekends, more than 10,000 people visited the hamlet. It’s no mean task to garner ₹5 crore in less than five months. We arrived at this figure after a preliminary audit of boat ride fares, local transport fares, tea shops and restaurants, parking spots and toilet facilities. Young couples who came for save-the-date photoshoots for ₹5,000 constituted a majority of the visitors,” said Anishkumar.
Local women, mostly from self-help groups, also did brisk business by selling flower stalks for ₹30 per bunch.
Embedded deep in the soil, the seeds of water lilies sprout from July to October when the fields are filled with rainwater. Considered weeds in agricultural parlance, the flowers have proved a blessing for the farming community in Malarikkal and boosted the local economy.
By next week, the vast swathe of pink lilies will give way to paddy cultivation.
G. Gopakumar, a local Congress leader, told this newspaper that tractors had been deployed to remove the weeds and flowers to prepare the land for farming. “The paddy farmers have been getting a raw deal at the hands of the authorities due to stagnant procurement prices, delayed payments and rising input costs leading to losses,” he said.