Student’s future flourishes with his roses in Jhenidah

A student in Harinakundu upazila of Jhenidah has seen the face of success cultivating flowers, especially rose and tuberose (rajanigandha).

Mehedi Hasan Shishir, 28, the son of Saifur Rahman of Ramchandrapur village in the upazila, is a second year honours student at the Department of Political Science at Government Lalon Shah College.

According to the sources at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Jhenidah, around 199 hectares of land have been brought under flower cultivation in the four upazilas of the district, which was 170 in the previous season.

Shishir is the only flower grower in Harinakundo upazila.

While talking to this correspondent, Shishir said his father was not solvent and he could not bear the expenses of his study. After passing the HSC exam in 2012, he could not pursue higher education due to poverty.

He then made up his mind to cultivate flowers as he had a profound love for flowers from his boyhood.

He cultivated rose on five decimals of land in 2015 on a trial basis and sold the flowers at Tk 50,000.

Later, he cultivated rose on 10 decimals in 2016 and earned Tk 80,000. Now, he cultivates flowers on one bigha (one bigha is equivalent to 46 decimals) where there are 1200 rose plants, 500 chandramallika, 1000 marigolds and 20,000 tuberose plants.

In 2018, his annual sale stood at Tk two lakh excluding the cost. In 2019, he could not sell any flowers due to the pandemic and subsequent lockdown situation.

In 2021, he sold flowers worth Tk one lakh thirty thousand. This year, he has started the sale of Tk 30,000 to Tk 35,000 per month. The flower plants will last around 10 to 12 years.

He is expecting a good business on Valentine's Day to be celebrated on February 14.

He said that he will be able to sell per piece of rose at Tk 30 to Tk 40 and tuberose at Tk 25 to Tk 30 per stick.

He added that he will cultivate flowers on 10 bighas of land in the next year as it is very profitable. Especially, roses are in great demand all year round.

Seeing the success of Shishir, many other students in the village have started cultivating flowers. Two undergraduate students--Rashed Hossain and Shimul Hossain--of the village have also started flower cultivation.

Deputy Director Asgar Ali of Jhenidah DAE said rose cultivation is very profitable. Its demand remains high all year round as it is used on different occasions.