Flower cultivation changes life

Razzak tending his flower plants at Baliadanga village in Jhenidah.Photo: STAR

“We do not starve now a days, we live in brick-built houses and use sanitary latrine”, said a flower grower in Trilochonpur union Jhenidah.
Most of the farmers in the area have started flower cultivation instead of growing traditional crops like paddy and jute as it is more profitable. Flowers can be cultivated three times a year, farmers and agriculture officials told The Daily Star.
The flower growing villages include Trilochonpur, Baliadanga, Gobordanga, Boro-Ghighati, Chhoto-Ghighati, Gopinathpur, Fadilpur, Banuria, and Talina.
Flower cultivation is spreading to other areas of Kaligonj upazila and parts of the adjoining Chuadanga district and Jhikorgacha in Jessore district, Agriculture Extension department (AED) officials said.
According to AED statistics, out of some 2,400 bighas of land in Trilochonpur union, around 2,200 bighas are now under flower cultivation. The area is expanding.
The flowers find their way to markets in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and other cities and towns.
People of 17 villages in Trilochonpur union and neighboring unions sell flowers worth about Tk 1,50,0000 a day, said grower Razzak.
Md. Shahid Ullah Khondokar, deputy secretary in the ministry of finance, along with some other officials conducted a survey on flower cultivation and talked to at least 30 flower growers here a few months gack.
The team was overwhelmed with the beauty of soothing and blooming marigold and tuberose flowers on most fields in 17 villages in Kaligonj upazila, about 25 km southwest of Jhenidah district town. They urged farmers to expand their cultivation.
Union Parishad chairman and flower grower Abdur Razzak of Baliadanga village said, flower cultivation has brought about a radical change in the area.
“You will not find any poor farmer in our area”, he said.
Seventy year-old Din Mohammad said he has sold flowers worth about Tk one lakh this year and may earn Tk 2 lakh more if the weather remains favorable.
Motiar Rahman, president of flower growers' association in Baliadanga village said, they have changed their lots by cultivating flower.
Housewife Maya Rani of the village said her husband Haren Kumar is a rickshaw van-puller . “We make dhopa (garland) and earn Tk 70-80 a day. This meets educational expenses of our children”.
But they are facing problems. They demanded import of flowers from India, preservation facilities, which involves abig expenditure. Besides there is scarcity of fertiliser and also irrigation problem. Training by experts will boost its production and export, in which government initiative is needed, they said.
Jhenidah AED deputy director Abdul Kader Sarkar, when contacted, said they have decided to provide training to flower growers.