Udupi: Jasmine production drops severely as plants shrink

By Prakash Katpadi
Bellevision Media Network

Udupi, 05 November 2011: Plant shrinking is the most common disease in jasmine plants and now even as the winter is approaching the plants are dying with this disease in the district. So even though there is huge demand for the jasmine flowers in the market, having not much flowers on the plants, the jasmine yield has dropped down drastically.
 
Shankarpura, Moodubelle, Shirva, Belman, Karkala, Moodubidri and many other places the jasmine crop has been badly affected by this shrink disease. The disease is in severe stage to the plants of most of the farmers and those plants are dying and difficult to survive for long. With the untimely heavy rain this time the water content is more in the soil of the farm land which has caused this shrink disease.

 

 
When the plants get this shrink disease, the leaves drop down completely and the branches of the plants get swamp and finally the plant will die. Unable to sustain this disease the plant begins to shrink and fail to produce flowers time to time and one by one these plants get dried by the sunlight.
 
If one plant gets this disease it will spread to all rest of the plants and this will destroy the whole farm. To have good yield of Shankarapura jasmine the sunlight and also the rain should not be extreme. So every year whenever the weather is extreme the yield gets badly affected here.
 
This time even as the winter is approaching and as the rain is still pouring, the plants have been affected with this disease here and there. As this disease become severe the farmers are now in financial difficulties. The situation becomes inevitable to bring new saplings, plant them and nourish them, opinioned a farmer Bantakal Ramakrishna Sharma.
 
Since there is no medicine to prevent this shrink disease which time and again hits the plants, it becomes very difficult for the farmers in the jasmine flower season. In one side this disease and in another side the fluctuating weather which is causing drop in the yield. Though the price is sky high in the market, unable to produce much flowers the farmers have lost their income.      
    
Other than the shrink disease, the plants are also affected by leaf black spot disease and fading diseases. Most of the time the farmers spray the chemical medicine to prevent the diseases. Also the insects destroy the plants sometimes. Excessive spraying of the chemicals to the plant will also affect the soil which loses its quality and  results into more diseases to the plants, said Shankarapura Jasmine flower farmer Ronald Castelino.