India's Fragrant Empire: How Ganjam’s Kewda Industry Smells Good In The Face Of Cyclones, Salinity & Market Pressures

By Samir Kumar Acharya

Berhampur: Early in the morning, with the breeze blowing from across the Bay of Bengal, the kewda (Kia in Odia) groves of Ganjam begin to stir. Women step into the marshy fields with cloth-wrapped palms, plucking the spiky, fragrant male flowers that make the district famous across India and abroad.

“We start before sunrise because the flower loses its strength once the sun is up and hot,” said 52-year-old plucker Sabitri Pradhan, who has been working in the groves near Chhatrapur for three decades. Many people in the area survive on selling the flowers.

Inside Odisha’s Fragrant Empire: How Ganjam’s Kewda Industry Survives Cyclones, Salinity & Market Pressures (ETV Bharat)

Across villages like Gopalpur, Arjipalli and Rangeilunda, kewda is not just another crop but a generational occupation. It binds families to the land and spreads fragrance across geographies. Odisha contributes over 90% of India’s kewda flower production, according to the Odisha Kewda Development Corporation (OKDC), and Ganjam accounts for the largest share. The district has a unique mix of marshlands and saline moisture that make kewda, known as Pandanus fascicularis, one of the most aromatic varieties in the world.

Once collected, the flowers are rushed to the traditional distillation units known locally as bhattis. The distillers still use age-old techniques like copper degs, bamboo pipes, wood-fired furnaces and riverbank clay to seal the vessels. The process, locals say, has barely changed in a century. “Modern machines can make perfume, but they cannot make kewda attar. If you change the method, the soul of kewda will disappear,” said Haribandhu Swain, a third-generation distiller from Gopalpur.

Inside a bhatti, the flowers simmer slowly for hours until the vapour condenses into a pale, highly aromatic liquid. For every thousand flowers, barely 500-600 ml of extract is obtained, according to members of the distillers’ associations. The precious attar travels across India, to sweet shops, temples, paan sellers, and even to perfumeries in the Gulf. The best-quality attar from Ganjam can fetch upt Rs 18,000–25,000 per litre, depending on the season and market demand.

But behind the industry lies a deep concern. Extreme weather eventualities, particularly cyclones, have repeatedly damaged kewda plantations over the past decade. Official data from the horticulture department shows that nearly 35% of traditional groves were badly hit during Cyclone Fani and subsequent storms, forcing many families to replant. Rising soil salinity is also a growing threat. “Kewda loves brackish water, but too much salinity kills the roots. What we are seeing now is climate stress creeping into an industry that has survived purely because of inherited knowledge,” explained Dr. J.K. Mahapatra, a retired botanist from Berhampur University.

In addition to environmental risks, the local economy has also suffered due to middlemen who controlled supply chains since long. Distillers say they often had no bargaining power and were forced to accept whatever price was offered. “We work day and night, but the profit went to others. Our children saw this and wanted to leave the profession,” said Raghunath Panigrahi, a distiller from Rangeilunda.

The turning point came when Ganjam Kewda received its Geographical Indication (GI) tag which boosted the market profile of the flower and encouraged many small entrepreneurs to bottle kewda water, create artisanal perfumes, and launch fragrance for niche brands showcasing the region’s heritage. The Odisha government, too, has begun promoting kewda as a potential export product under its MSME and handicrafts clusters.

Inside Odisha’s Fragrant Empire: How Ganjam’s Kewda Industry Survives Cyclones, Salinity & Market Pressures (ETV Bharat)

The kewda producing villages get filled with fragrance and the women plucking it get drenched in it. Possessive about their crop, they feel this generation will continue the same work though the next lot of children in the families may not take it up. “Kewda is not just fragrance for us. It has held our families together for generations,” Sabitri added, while wiping the morning dew from her hands.

Even as climate change brings new uncertainties and threats, the people in the coastal villages of Ganjam unfailingly wake up before dawn, step into the groves and start plucking the flowers. "This is not easy work but some things come to us with difficulty - particularly those passed on to us from generations. The kewda fragrance defines our existence and endurance and we have to continue the trade," adds Sabitri.

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2. Uttarakhand Spreads Fragrance By Training Perfume Makers From Across India