Astgaon's Rose Revolution: 10 Lakh Flowers From This Maharashtra Village Are Sold Across India Daily

By Ravindra Mahale

Ahilyanagar: "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose" is a famous line from American author Gertrude Stein's poem 'Sacred Emily', highlighting that simply using the name of a thing evokes its imagery and emotions. The line is appropriate for Astgaon, a small village in Rahata taluka of Maharashtra's Ahilyanagar district, which has now gained fame for its rose farming.

Every day, around 10 lakh roses are sent from this village to various parts of India. Rose farming is done on around 700 acres in Astgaon and adjoining villages of Cholkevasti and Morwadi, where on an average 10 lakh roses are produced daily.

These roses have helped farmers generate a turnover of about Rs 20 crore annually. After seeing the initial profits, farmers switched from other traditional crops to rose farming.

Rose farming was started in a small area by some farmers nearly 40 years ago after Divine variety rose seedlings were brought from an exhibition in Ahilyanagar. Initially, this experiment was limited to a few farmers and as it started yielding good income, gradually other farmers turned to this farming. Today rose farming has expanded to 700 acres, giving Astgaon and the surrounding villages a new identity.

Prakash Rasal, a farmer told ETV Bharat, "This rose crop has been truly 'Divine' for us. It is primarily used for making garlands in Mumbai and other metro cities. We get a daily produce of 40,000 roses. If we use good quality fertiliser we get an additional 15,000 produce. Now our village is called 'flower village', thanks to these Divine roses."

He further said that the roses from local farms are used in preparing special garlands that are offered to Sai Baba in Shirdi. "We pluck the flowers in the mornings and evenings, and due to close proximity to Shirdi, we transport the roses in buses to various parts of the country. Our roses are sent to Madhya Pradesh's Indore, and cities of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Telangana."

Many farmers switched from other crops to rose farming (ETV Bharat)

There is a huge demand for these garlands as a large number of devotees visit Shirdi on a daily basis. Twenty percent of these roses are sold in Shirdi, while the remaining 80 percent are sent to flower markets across the country. Astgaon roses are in huge demand in the major markets of Mumbai, Surat, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Vidarbha and Amravati.

Even though the farming is held throughout the year, the demand rises during Maharashtrian New Year, Diwali, Dussehra, Pitru Paksha, weddings and other festivals.

Astgaon village that has created its own identity through rose farming is an inspiration for many farmers. Rose farming provides livelihood to about a thousand families in Astgaon and its vicinity. Nearly 600 farmers are engaged in rose cultivation and about two to three lakh flowers are produced per acre, generating an income of about Rs five lakh. They get a good profit after deducting nearly 30 percent of the cost incurred.

Divine variety of rose cultivated in Astgaon village is in high demand across the country (ETV Bharat)

After the demand for Divine Rose variety grew, many nurseries mushroomed in this region. Today, there are about 70 to 80 small and big nurseries operating in Astgaon. Here, rose grafting is done using the eye-budding method. This method requires specialised skill and now many youth from this village have mastered this art.

Currently, approximately 200 to 250 youths of the village have become proficient in this work and with the growing demand for eye-budding rose grafting, many of them have been sent across India and in foreign countries to help grow roses using this specialised technique.

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