Team News Riveting
Kochi, September 24
Acclaimed across the globe for the famous boat race, Aranmula in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district is getting another identity.
Marigold—yellow flowers—has now created a niche for the sleepy town also known for its famous temple. An acre of land crammed with beautiful, bright and yellow marigold flowers bestow a picturesque look that is attracting visitors.
And it all happened during the lockdown period following a pandemic that has literally stalled the normal life and other activities. A retired 72-year-old engineer N K Krishnan Nair is the man behind the making.
Krishnan Nair returned to Kerala in 2004 after working with an oil refinery for almost three decades in Libya. Nair had been working as an investor in Kerala after returning. Following lockdown, he decided to do something with the two acres of land that he owned in the heart of the town.
The land situated next to his house was rocky and had been lying barren for many years. He had never invested in farming. Due to lockdown, flowers from North India stopped coming that propelled Krishnan Nair to convert the crises into opportunity.
Moreover, he wanted to contest the perception that marigolds could not be cultivated in Kerala. Venturing into the business that he had never envisaged, Krishnan Nair contacted his friends in Karnataka and sought guidance to go ahead with the project.
He sourced 1,000 marigold saplings and expedited the project. The bumper crop on his barren land now stands as a model.
Krishnan Nair is getting a yield of 15-20 kg of marigolds every day, which he has started selling to the local vendors and earning close to Rs 35,000 every month.
