Stop importing plastic flowers
Flower farmers in Savar yesterday formed a human chain demanding a ban on import of plastic flowers.
Under the banner of Savar Upazila Flower Farmer and Flower Businessmen Cooperative Society, around 150 people formed the human chain in Savar Bazar bus stand area beside Dhaka-Aricha highway from 12pm to 1pm.
Their demands are: stop importing fake flowers made of plastic from China, Thailand and India; make pesticide and farming equipment more accessible to farmers; create export opportunity and set up a wholesale flower market in Dhaka.
Farmers alleged that they're incurring a huge loss as imported fake flowers are flooding the market.
They said there are around 30 lakh people in the country involved in floriculture and it is an industry worth thousands of crores, yet some people are importing plastic flowers to damage the Bangladeshi market.
"In 2018, we would sell 100 roses for Tk 1,500-2,000 at the wholesale market, and the price reduced to around Tk 900 last year. Now, we're having to sell this same amount of roses for Tk 300," said Malu Mia, a flower farmer.
"This situation was created as plastic flowers are filling up the market. If the government doesn't take steps to save our industry, we would have to leave this profession," he added.
Another farmer Alamgir Hossen said, "I used to cultivate flower on 180 decimals of land but now I grow flowers on only 60 decimals of that land, because it's not as profitable anymore." He also pleaded the authorities concerned to save the industry.
According to Savar upazila agriculture office, there are about 2,000 flower farmers in the area. They cultivate several species of flowers, mostly rose, on around 250 hectares of land.
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