Rural Bangladesh not lagging

Jhikargachha upazila in Jessore is a pioneer in floriculture in the country where many farmers started flower farming in late 90s.
"Outside the Dhaka city, more than 2,500 nurseries have been set up in Savar, Ashulia, Gazipur, Manikganj, Keraniganj, Dohar, Tangail areas," said Md Nurul Amin, president of BPNMS and botany professor at Jahangirnagar University.
He along with his three colleagues founded Horters' Nursery on the university campus in 1993.
Flower gardens in Savar, Ashulia and other adjacent areas of the capital meet 40 per cent demand in Dhaka and the rest are fulfilled by flower gardens in Jessore, Magura, Jhenidah, Bogra and Rangpur, Mr. Amin said.
Sabuj Nursery in Bogra, Kingshukh Green House at Ashulia, Ananda Nursery and Barisal Nursery at Savar are few big nurseries in the country.
Md Sher Ali Sarder, flower farmer and trader at Godkhali under Jhikargachha, said he first started flower gardening at his village.
"Most of the villagers then said I had gone mad," said Mr Sarder, considered as a pioneer of flower industry in the country.
Under his supervision, flower farm expanded to more than 4,500 hectares of land in Jhikargachha upazila while Jessore has been emerged as the biggest flower hub in the country, according to DAE.
Mr Sarder said the government had no rules or regulations or guidelines on flower and ornamental plant gardening earlier, which was a big challenge for the farmers.
"The situation has changed and now we have become an export earner also," he said.
Farmers are growing tuberose, rose, gerbera, ginia, gladiolus, marigold, star, calendula, orchids and other many varieties of flower both for local and foreign buyers.  
Md Kamal Uddin Manik, vice president of Bangladesh Nursery Malik Samity (BNMS), an organisation of more than 3,000 of nurseries in the country, said annual turnover of the sector, including export and local trade, is now Tk 20 billion, of which Dhaka and Chittagong contribute more than 50 per cent.
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