In the last two decades, the nursery and flower business has gained a huge marketof taka 10 billion plus with potentials to increase further. The present demand is mostly from middle-income groups as well as special programs of corporate and government agencies.The present increase in production has also reduced import cost by 41%, compared to 2013 with 2016. Thus,flower cultivation and use have become a potential agribusiness with economic benefits to both processors and producers.
Bangladesh has the advantage of having fertile land and favorable environment for the cultivation of a good number of ornamental species. According to the Bangladesh Flower Society, the economically important flowerspecies of the country are tuberose, types of roses, gladiolus, marigold, gerbera, daisy and some orchids.
About 45 million saplings are being sold annually by the country’s nurseries. Out of the total, almost 20% alone is provided by different varieties of flowers and ornamental plants. This amount was less tAccording to a report of the Bangladesh Flower Society, the sales of flower were $31 million in 2009-10 which rose to around $100 million46 districts by 2015-16.More than 20,000 people from about are involved in flower cultivation, post-harvest processing, and marketing to retailing. Flowers are grown on nearly of land in 13 regions covering /districts of the country of which the Jashore district alone including Godkhali Unionof the district is the pioneer and prominent one with more than 2600 acres or 48% of total area. Documented information indicates that one bigha(33 decimal) of rose garden can alone give Tk 100-150 thousand per year and a rose garden may live for 10-15 years. On the other hand, any flower garden is able to provide Tk 40-45 thousand per year from just one bigha of land. This makes flower cultivation economically profitable. Under the project Agricultural Value Chains (AVC) organized by the USAID, both farmers and traders have been trained in farm practices, new technologies, packaging and transporting.
This Sector has improved a lot in the last few years. But now there is a need for appropriate business plan linking the markets and the farmers covering an effective supply chain system. There is also a special need for providing high quality-seeds and seedlings at a reasonable price with other inputs to help both the farmers and the country economically.The assistance of Prof. AFM Jamal Uddin, SAU andAqief Afzal, Research Assistant, ASRBC, ACI Limited for this note is highlyacknowledged.
Professor Lutfur Rahman
