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“As a result, flower cultivation in Gadkhali has come to a standstill and I don’t know how to turn the situation around anymore,” Sardar added.

During normal times, flower farmer Samzed Ali would sell roses door-to-door for about Tk 5 per piece.

“Now though, even if I sell 100 roses, I make almost nothing since 100 roses currently cost about Tk 10 in total,” he said.

Similarly, other flower varieties, such as cornflower and gladiolus, used to sell for about Tk 20 each.

But since there is no trade, 100 flowers can be bought for the same amount.

“I have to work hard to run my family,” Ali added.

Since the number of social gatherings, such as weddings and festivals, has dropped drastically amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it goes without saying that there is not much opportunity to sell flowers, according to farmer Abdus Salam.

“I am forced to take a ferry into towns or rural markets to sell flowers but even then no one wants to buy,” he said, adding that he ends up feeding them to his cows and goats.

Badal Chandra Biswas, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension in Jashore, said about 625 hectares of land across six unions of the district were being used for commercial flower production.

“The region houses 6,500 flower farmers while there are about one lakh workers who are indirectly involved in floriculture here,” he added.

Abdur Rahim, president of Bangladesh Flower Society, said Jashore caters to about 60 or 70 per cent of the country’s demand for flowers.

“About Tk 500 crore worth of flowers were lost in five months of last year and three months of this year due to the coronavirus pandemic,” Rahim added.

Of this, at least Tk 300 crore has been lost in the Jashore region.

So far, 300 farmers have been given loans of around Tk 2 crore, he said.

Against this backdrop, Rahim urged the government to allow social events to take place in accordance with the health safety rules as well as increase the incentives for florists.