Flower industry wilting
If you are actually in the southwest village Godkhali or its neighbourhood Panisara, you will see there is absolutely no dearth of colours from the stretches of rose, tuberose, marigold, gerbera and gladiolus gardens.
However the blooming beauties are now discarded -- rather than being cherished.
The demand for flowers has screeched to a halt amid the ongoing countrywide shutdown to avoid the spread of the deadly coronavirus which has claimed up to 38,000 lives so far globally, including five in Bangladesh.
The most common scenes of cascading garlands of flowers, busy florists and salesmen attending to flower lovers in the capital's Shahbagh area have already been absent since March 26, when the government's movement control order took effect.
"We're able to sell even during hartals and violent political unrests. But we have never witnessed such a situation," said Md Rafiqul Islam, who has grown gerbera, gladiolus and tuberose on his 6-bigha of land.
The flower industry is merely among the many in the united states facing daunting prospects as the Bangladeshi and world economies stagnate due to the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
"This is a highly uncertain situation. Only his Almighty knows what awaits us ahead," said the 50-year farmer, who has been plucking flowers to protect the plants from pests and disease and to ensure good yields.
Normally, Islam cut 2,000 sticks of gerbera daily and threw them away the other day. Those could have fetched him Tk 5,000 a day.
Being truly a perishable item rather than simple to preserve, the country's 20,000 flower farmers, including Islam, and traders, are looking at ruins.
Each day, blooms worth Tk 1.5 crore were written off since March 20, according to Babul Proshad, president of Dhaka Ful Baboshaye Kalyan Samity, a link of flower traders.
Flower cultivation first began in Bangladesh in the 80s in Panisara of Jashore district. From there, it spilled to other districts.
Today, flowers are grown on 2,200-2300 hectares in Bangladesh, in line with the Department of Agricultural Extension.
Farmers mainly cultivate nine types of flowers, including marigold, gladiolus, tuberose, rose, gerbera and chrysanthemum.
The actual data on market size is not available and guesstimates of stakeholders vary between Tk 200 crore and Tk 1,500 crore annually.
The pandemic and the accompanying financial woes came at a particularly bad time for the flower industry.
Spring is a busy season for florists, plus they depend on the revenue coming in from Valentine's Day, national days including the International Mother Language Day on February 21 and Independence Day on March 26 and the first day of the Bangla twelve months, Pahela Boishakh, on April 14.
"Now, most of us will maintain big trouble as there will be no celebrations for Pahela Boishakh," said Fazlur Rahman, a flower farmer in Kaliganj of the western district Jhenaidaha.
Flower cultivation and trade is the primary livelihoods for many farmers in Jashore, Chuadanga and Jhenaidaha districts and they will lose the mental and financial capacity to keep cultivation, according to Md Abdur Rahim, president of the Bangladesh Flower Society (BFS).
When confronted with closure, Afsar Uddin, who grows flowers in Dhaka's outskirts Savar, furloughed two of his long term workers.
"There is absolutely no other way," he said, adding that he's considering giving the staff nominal wages.
Rahim urged the government to supply support to flower growers.
"Agricultural produce like vegatables and fruits are for sale. But we are shut as flowers are believed non-essential items. The federal government should provide low-cost loans for all of us to survive."
