Wayanad school boy borrows land from farmer-father, creates marigold bloom

The flowers in warm yellow and orange filling the 50-cent plot at Pulpally in Wayanad, spreading fragrance and swaying to the winds, are soul-soothing sights not just for the teen farmer Suryan P Sasi who grew it but also for visitors who flock the marigold farm.

The Plus Two student of St Catherine's Higher Secondary School, Payyampally, Wayanad, was inspired by various farm tourism videos on YouTube channel. However, it was not tourism, but flowers alone that Suryan aimed at while farming the marigold plants on the leased parcel of land.

Suryan faced slight resistance from the family when he pitched the idea initially. But his father Sasi, a yam farmer, yielded to the boy's unwavering passion and let his son cultivate the plants in the land he had leased to cultivate some other crops. Once Suryan started, there was no looking back. "I learned everything about marigold farming from YouTube," says Suryan.

"We got the marigold saplings from Bhoomika Agro Farm & Nursery in Alappuzha, prepared the garden bed before they were planted. We began manuring after 24 days when the plants reached a certain height," Suryan explains the farm routines, "The second manuring was done ten days later. However, we had a tough time saving the plants during the heavy monsoon showers, we lent support to the plants using thick sticks. The first blossoms were plucked away so that the flowers that followed would be more robust and bigger.

The boy has no worries about marketing as his school has already given a nod to buy out the flowers, which is needed for decoration during Onam celebration. "The Principal, teachers and friends are all supportive of this venture,' he says, and adds the school has agreed to find the market for the excess flowers as well.

"We have planned the harvest on August  The school Principal, Binu T Alex will be inaugurating the harvest. NSS Convener Sreejith and the Pulpally Panchayat member will grace the event," Suryan, a Pachikkaramukku native, says.

With farming in his DNA, Suryan had won the Best Student Farmer award in his panchayat a couple of years ago for developing a plantain farm. He has taken Computer Science for his plus two, and aspires to be a software engineer. Farming is a hobby for Suryan, who is now constantly supported by his mother Sanitha and brother Suraj.