Gadkhali: flower hub reemerging from pandemic woes

As the dawn breaks, agricultural fields in Gadkhali, a remote village in the southwest district Jashore, unfold themselves with abundance of colours, calling upon nature lovers to come inside and feel the beauty of nature.

And nature lovers promptly respond. Anyone visiting the locality during this winter period would notice it easily.

Fields buzz amid presence of flower lovers since early morning and the crowd continues to grow as the day wears on.

Flowers are as far as the eye can see! From marigolds, cosmos, daisy gypsies, roses, gladioli, tuberoses, gerbera, dahlias to chrysanthemums, all decorate the fields which, apart from becoming a source of celestial beauty, provide livelihoods to tens of hundreds of farmers in the region.

Every day, nearly 10,000 tourists from neighbouring districts and other parts, including Dhaka visit the locality to see eye-catching flower fields, which also offer a source of income for the locals.

The floriculture, which began couple of decades ago in this locality, is the biggest source of flowers used to celebrate social, cultural and national festivals in the country today.

Some 42 local and foreign varieties of flowers are grown commercially in 625 hectares area in 35 villages of Jashore. About 6,500 farmers and 100,000 workers are involved in floriculture here, said Badal Chandra Biswas, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension in Jashore.

And after the devastation caused by Covid-19-related lockdowns enforced first in March 2020 and later in the mid-2021 and the cyclone Amphan, farmers are now trying to make a turnaround as the economy is recovering following reopening from August last year.

Farmers said production and demand of flowers increased and prices of flowers were also higher this season than the previous winter. If this trend continues, many of them would be able to make up their pandemic caused losses.

The estimate of cultivation in the current fiscal year is yet available.

In the fiscal year of 2020-21, farmers in Bangladesh grew flowers on 2,264 hectares of land, down marginally from 2,298 hectares the previous year, according to the DAE.

Jashore district accounts for one-fourth of the total cultivation area of flowers followed by Dhaka and Chattogram.

"Actually, during the lockdown, we couldn't sell any flowers. But the plants were alive," said Ismail Hossain, owner of Shishir Nursery and Cut Flower Centre at Gadkhali.

He has planted different kinds of flowers, including gerbera, cosmos, and daisy gypsies on his seven bighas of land this season and sold the flowers at higher prices on the eve of Martyred Intellectuals Day on December 14 and Victory Day on December 16.

The cyclone Amphan destroyed two of his sheds and damaged plants in the fields. Amid the pandemic, demand for flowers fell, handing a Tk 45 lakh loss to Hossain.

He expects that sales would increase in the next two months which coincided with four biggest sales period: Pahela Falgun (the first day of spring season), Valentine's Day, International Mother Language Day, and Independence Day.

Amir Hossain, a farmer of Panisara union under Jhikargacha of Jashore, also looks to the coming sales season with the hope to recover from losses.

"This year both the weather and political situation are favourable and the farmers are most likely to make hefty profit from flower sales," said Md Monirul Islam, secretary of the Gadkhali Phulchashi and Kalyan Samiti, an association of flower growers.

He said daily sales now stand Tk 50 lakh to Tk 1 crore in the Gadkhali market.

Abdur Rahim, president of the Bangladesh Flower Society, says nearly 70 per cent of the country's demand for flowers are met from Jashore. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there was a loss of at least Tk 300 crore of business in the Jashore region only, he said.

"We expect the seasonal flower business to be over Tk 500 crore this season. Farmers recorded nearly Tk 250 crore of sales on the eve of the Victory Day and New Year 2022," said DAE's Badal Chandra.

"Real farmers will benefit more if the marketing system is developed and the middlemen are removed," he said, adding the government was working towards this goal.