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FARMING

Profiting from flowers

AZIBOR RAHMAN, Jhenidah
Farmers in the Trilochonpur union of Jhenidah have switched to cultivating (lowers from crops such as paddy and jute, as it proves more profitable for them.
Flowers can be cultivated three times a year and are changing the fate of fanners in the area, growers and agriculture officials told The Daily Star. "We are not starving anymore. We live in brick houses now," says a flower grower.
The villages that grow flowers include TYilochonpur, Baliadanga, Gobordanga, Boro-Ghighati, Chhoto-Ghighati, Gopinathpur, Fadilpur, Banuria and Talina. Besides, Balabaria, Baluhar and Pallafulbari under Kotchandpur upaziia and Ganna, Kaderkol and Paikpara in Jhenidah also bloom flowers.
Flower faming is also spreading to other areas in Kaliganj upaziia and parts of the adjoining Chuadanga district and Jhikorgachha in Jessore district, said officials with the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).
According to DAE statistics, out of some 2,400 bighas of land in the TYilochonpur union, around 2,300 bighas are now under flower cultivation. The area of flower farming is expanding.
The flowers find their way to markets in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and other cities and towns.
People from 19 villages in the TYilochonpur union and neighbouring areas sell flowers worth about Tk 17 lakh a day, said flower grower Md Razzak. He earns Tk 2 lakh in profit from cultivating two acres of flower gardens every three months, while he would have received onlyTk 50,000 from traditional crops such as paddy.
Md Shahid Ullah Khondokar, deputy secretary of the finance ministry, and other officials conducted a survey on flower cultivation last year.
Overwhelmed by the beauty of blooming marigolds and tuberoses in the 19 villages in Kaliganj upaziia, about 25km southeast of the district town, they urged farm-
ers to expand cultivation.
Union Parishad Chairman and flower grower Abdur Razzak of Baliadanga village said flower cultivation has brought a major change to the area. “You won't find any poor farmer in our area."
Imtiaz Ali, 50, said he sold flowers worth Tk 80,000 this year and may earn an additional Tk 1 lakh, if weather permits.
Md Khairul Islam, a flower grower of Boro-Ghighati village, said he cultivated only six kathas of land, which cost him Tk 9,000
and sold flowers worth Tk 28,000 from it.
Motiar Rahman, president of Flower Growers' Association in Baliadanga village, said flower cultivation has improved the way of life in the area. He also said the Asia Foundation plays an important role in contacting authorities for overall privileges.
Hundreds of women are earning aroundTk 90 a day.
Housewife Maya Rani, wife of rickshaw puller Haren Kumar, said: "We make garlands and earn
Tk 80-90 a day that helps us bear our children's educational expenses.”
Fanners feel the need for government steps to solve the problems such as a lack of preservation facilities, which involves large spending, scarcity of fertiliser and irrigation. However, they hope training by experts will increase production and exports of flowers.
Flower grower and trader Abdul Quader of Baliadanga village said it is a profitable business. He buys
a basket of flowers for Tk 40-50 to sell for Tk 60-70 in Dhaka and Chittagong.
Another flower trader Anis Ahmed of Kamalhat village said he buys flowers from Kaliganj and sells in Dhaka and Chittagong. He said they need sheds at the Kaliganj bus stand, from where the flowers are loaded onto buses, as they count losses in the rainy season.
Jhenidah DAE Deputy Director Abdul Kader Sarkar said they would train flower growers.