Floriculture business suffers damage worth 150 million

Kathmandu, Oct 26: The incessant rainfall that took place on September 27 and 28 has inflicted significant damage to the floriculture business.

As a result, the price of Sayapatri or Marigold flowers is expected to rise during the upcoming Tihar festival. Flowers that had just started blooming were damaged due to the rain resulting in a loss of around Rs. 150 million, said Dilip Bade, Chairperson of the Nepal Floriculture Association. For the upcoming Tihar festival, 1.5 million garlands are being imported from India.

Bade said that last year the cost was Rs. 65 to Rs. 70 per garland but this year the wholesale price will be around Rs. 80 to Rs. 85 per garland. There is a demand for 700,000 Sayapatri flower garlands this year compared to last year. Last year 3.3 million garlands were sold during the Tihar festival. Out of the total market demand for flower garlands, 60 per cent is in the Kathmandu Valley.

There is a market demand for 4 million Sayaparti flower garlands for this year’s Tihar festival. According to the Floriculture Association, though the market demand for garlands in this year’s Tihar festival is 4 million the domestic production is only 2.5 million.

Market demand increases by 15 to 20 percent every year, but production increases by only 10 percent at most. With the increase in the demand for flowers, farming of flowers has expanded to 52 districts including Kaski, Chitwan, Makwanpur, Kavrepalanchok, Gulmi, Palpa, Dhading, Morang, along with three districts of Kathmandu Valley. –––RSS