Business waiting to bloom in ‘Flower Capital’ Gadkhali

A doorway of new possibilities is set to open for flower farmers of Gadkhali in Jashore, distinguished as the Flower Capital of the country, where the government is establishing the first flower processing centre and a modern flower market.

Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are jointly building the modern flower market and cooling chamber spending Tk 19 crore.

Although the slow progress of the project is making the local flower farmers fidgety but a new hope of future prosperity is predominating their minds. 

The flower business commercially started in Gadkhali of Jhikargasa in 1983 that is currently meeting 70 percent of the overall demand of the country. The flower cultivation subsequently spread to different places of the country.

The livelihood of more than around one lakh people of Gadkhali and its adjacent areas were revolving around flower farming. 

The local flower farmers have been looking for a specialised  cold storage and modern market in the area for a long time as it has been hindering their route to profit in the season.

Meanwhile, LGED Executive Engineer of Jashore Mirza Iftekhar Ali said the project was launched in 2015 and they hope to complete it within 2020. 

Centering the flower garden, the government has also taken different development projects for easy road transportation around the flower market areas, he added.

Different modern technologies will be used in the Flower Processing Centre that would facilitate the farmers to package and grade the flowers. The farmers will be provided with proper training and modern cooling chamber that would be used to reserve the packaged flowers for future sale. 

Flower farmer Sher Ali said, “I thought we would be benefitted from the centre in the current season but the building process is yet to be completed.” 

He urged the government to finish the work quickly. 

Bangladesh Flower Society President Abdur Rahim said, “We’ve suffered a lot due to the lack of modern flower processing..Now we want its quick completion.”