JHENIDAH, Dec 11: Flower farmers in the district are happy as sale of their produce has soared ahead of the Victory Day celebration.
Farmers' interest in growing flowers is on the increase and around 400 hectares of land have been brought under its cultivation, according to DAE sources.
Farmers here have produced varieties of flowers including gerbera, rose, gladiola, tuberose and marigold. eying different national celebrations and traditional festivals - Victory Day, International Mother Language Day, Independence Day and Valentine's Day, in particular.
Beledanga in Kaliganj and Ganna Bazar under Jhenidah Sadar are home to large wholesale markets, in the district famous for supplying a huge amount of flowers to big cities including the capital city.
Farmers they have experienced better bumper production of flowers this Robi season.
Now the demand of flowers has gone up significantly ahead of the Victory Day celebration, benefiting both the growers and traders a lot, industry insiders said.
The prices of the delicate item are higher this year compared with last year.
At present each stick of gerbera is being sold at Tk Tk 10-12, roses are being sold for Tk 5-7 a piece, gladiolus at Tk 4.0 to Tk 6.0 and a garland (locally known as jhopa) for Tk 80 to Tk 100, according to flower farmers.
As the weather condition is favourable this year growers are most likely to make substantial profit, said Agriculture Extension Officer of DAE, Kaligonj Md Abdullah Al Noman.
Md Tipu Sultan, a flower farmer said he had built two structures covering six bighas of land to cultivate flowers.
Though huge investment is required for growing quality flowers in large numbers, this useful luxury crop cultivation can bring the growers satisfactory amount of cash in return, he said.
Thousands of men and women are directly engaged in flower production, harvesting and marketing throughout the district, Tipu added.
Farmers in the district demanded that the government should arrange cold storage here so that this perishable item does not get wasted due to lack of preservation locally.
GM Abdur Rouf, deputy director (DD), DAE, Jhenidah said Ganna Bazar under Sadar upazila is an assembled centre where flowers from different areas are gathered for sales. Wholesalers from various places across the country throng there.
Marketing systems are developing gradually and flowers of Jhenidah are also being exported abroad which is a very good sign, the official added.
