Marigold brings smile to farmers’ face in Baliadanga union

JHENIDAH, Mar 25: About 5,000 to 6,000 farmers from around a dozen of   villages at Trilachanpur union under Kaliganj upazila in Jhenidah, are changing their lots by extensively growing marigolds in their fields.

The villages of Baliadanga union under Kaliganj upazila, which are eying bumper marigold yields, are Baliadanga, Tilla, Gheeghati, Pathbila, Gapinathpur, Kalukhali, Madhupur, Dhala, Dadpur, Banuria, Tilechandpur, Simla etc.

UP member Md. Robiul Islam, a marigold farmer, told this correspondent that in the union a large volume of marigold grows due to dry weather and suitable 'doyash' soil. Here in the villages flowers are cultivated twice year on the same land.

Flower cultivator Md. Ashraf Hossain from Baliadanga village told the FE he had cultivated marigold on 30 decimals of land spending Tk 20,000 and had earned Tk. 60,000 in last season.

In Baliadanga union farmers have been cultivating marigold since 1990,  sources said.

Different modes of transports like vans, Nasimon, Karimon, Alamsadhu, pickup vans etc. are used for carrying the flowers to nearby towns - Kaliganj and Jhenidah -from where the items are reloaded on bus roofs and  on small and big trucks destined for various districts including Dhaka, Chittagong, Feni, Barisal, Kushtia, Rangpur, and Jessore.

There sits a wholesale flower market daily at Baliadanga Bazar where nearly 30 pharias (suppliers) purchase the marigold garlands each consisting of 700 to 800 pieces of flowers from the farmers of the said villages.

Some of the big beparies (traders), to name, Abdar, Intaz, Prodip, Rup Kumar and Muktar from Baliadanga village, told this correspondent that when any countrywide protest progrmme of the opposition parties like hartal and/or blockade were enforced, they had to incur huge losses for lack of transportation of the item fetching the men concerned great miseries.

Price of a garland is fixed depending on demand and supply and especially on the political situation of the country, said Ujjol Kurmar Biswas, a flower trader dealing in the item in the bazar.

Growers and traders of flowers here demanded that the transportation of flowers, a perishable item, be left out of the purview of the opposition's blockade programme in future.