By james art Kathmandu, October 23: As Tihar, the second biggest festival of Nepalis, is around the corner, farmers of Gundu in Suryabinyak-7 Municipality, Bhaktapur are now busy picking Makhamali (globus amaranth) flowers and making garlands.
Gundu is famous for growing Makhamali flowers.
Makhamali garlands have significant cultural value on Bhai Tika day, so the demand for Makhamali flowers is high during Tihar festival.
Mahamali and Marigold flowers worth millions of rupees are produced in Suryabinyak Municipality.
The Mahamali flower has been grown commercially in Ward No. 7 of Suryabinyak Municipality for the past 40 years. However, it came into the limelight only after the local government included floriculture in its plan.
Pahalman Nagarkoti started the commercial cultivation of Mahamali flowers about 40 years ago. The floriculture he started developed as a model commercial agriculture in the area.
Recalling the struggles they faced while selling the flowers in the past, Dev Kumari Nagarkoti, wife of Pahalman Nagarkoti, said, “Local traders chased them away when they brought flowers to Pashupati, Asan, Indrachowk and other areas of Kathmandu and Bhaktapur to sell. ”
She further said, “Despite the difficult circumstances, my husband sold flowers and taught the villagers about the flower business. He not only grew flowers but also attracted the people of Gundu to the flower business”.
Today, thanks to his contribution, the farmers of District No. 7 of Suryabinyak Municipality have adopted floriculture as their main source of income.
Currently, flower farming has made it easy for every family in Suryabinayak-7 to generate income. They have no dearth of money for health, education, household expenses, marriage ceremonies, rituals, puja and festivals.
Late Pahalman Nagarkoti’s daughter, Urmila Nagarkoti, a successful flower entrepreneur and Chairperson of the Disability Coordination Department Committee said that flower business has helped people to generate substantial income.
She said, “Forty years ago, when my father was growing Mahamali flowers, he used to sell a garland for 25 paise. Now we are selling each Makhamali flower garland for Rs. 20 to Rs. 25,” she said.
I have prepared around 4,000 garlands for this year and hope to create more before Bhai Thika, she said.
The area covers an area of 5.94 square kilometers and flowers are grown here on about 50 hectares of land. The Gundu area is located on the southern side of the Araniko highway and has paved roads and transportation facilities.
The municipality provides a grant to every farmer engaged in floriculture through Sana Kishan Ltd. Agricultural Cooperative.
The cooperative is providing saplings of Mahamali and Marigold flowers at 80 percent subsidy, plastic for tunnel farming, tools, irrigation facilities, seeds and hand tractors for the convenience of farmers, said Ajay Mani Risal, manager of Sana Kishan Agriculture Cooperative Ltd.
More than 428 farmers have benefited from the grant, Risal said.
“We have produced 65,000 saplings and distributed them to farmers. The grant given to grow flowers has encouraged other farmers to stay or move into the flower business,” he said.
There is no uniformity in the market prices of Mahamlai Garland. Middlemen benefit more from the flower business than the actual farmers, said Rabindra Sapkota, chairman of Gundu Ward No. 7.
“We are also trying to remove middlemen from the flower business so that farmers get fairer prices for their produce,” he added.
However, there is limited official data on the volume of transactions and the amount of money generated because businessmen buy flowers directly from flower growers, away from government oversight and interference, he said.
“Not only Nepalis living in Nepal but also those living outside the country demand Mahamali during Tihar. This drives demand and provides income opportunities,” said florist Anita Basnet.
Basnet herself delivers flowers to Nepalis living in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Japan, the United States and other nations, mainly through personal contact. Usually, farmers start picking flowers from mid-August and use cold storage to keep them fresh till Tihar.