Farmers feed unsold flower harvest to livestock as virus lockdown bites

Farmers in Jashore's Godkhali are facing major losses as they are unable to sell their produce of cut flowers as a result of the nationwide lockdown due to a coronavirus outbreak.

Sales of numerous non-essential products have plummetted as people remain housebound in an effort to avoid the risk of contagion. Flowers are one of those products that are not on the list of daily staples.

Golam Rasul cultivated rose, hibiscus, tube rose, gladiolus and gerbera on 10 bigha of land in Jhikargachha Upazila's Nandi Dumuria village this year.

“Shops and transport services are closed now. There’s no market for flowers. On the other hand, there’ll be no new buds if we don’t harvest the flowers. That’s why we cut the roses and feed cattle with them,” he said.

Godkhali market, located on the Jashore-Benapole Highway, 20 km west of Jashore city, is popularly known as a ‘flower haven’. Farmers, labourers, wholesalers and retailers from across the country used to throng the market every day, sometimes even before the break of dawn.

These flowers were transported to all corners of the country on the rooftops of buses with purchasers from big cities like Dhaka and Chattogram sending pick-ups, trucks or vans to get them.

“All of that seems like a dream now. The coronavirus has snatched away the dreams of farmers. They are totally helpless now,” Aslam Hossain, from Haria Nimtala, told bdnews24.com.

“The flower market has had no buyers or sellers for the past 15 days. Flowers are rotting in the fields. Farmers are feeding cattle with these fancy flowers. You'll find melancholy etched on their faces.”

The harvesting season for flowers stretches from December to April but the Godkhali flower market has been closed since Mar 24.

Flower producers and traders in the region are counting losses of around Tk 1 billion, having missed out on two of the biggest paydays of the year, Independence Day and Bangla New Year, according to Abdur Rahim, president of Bangladesh Flower Society.

Farmers cultivated gladiolus on 272 hectares of land, tube roses on 165 hectares, roses on 105 hectares, marigold on 55 hectares, gerbera on 22 hectares along with other flowers on 6 hectares of land in Jhikargachha, said the Upazila's Agriculture Officer Masud Hossain Palash.

Farmers are caught in a quandary as they can neither sell the flowers nor keep them, he added.

Rony Ahammad, organising secretary of Godkhali Flower Farmers Welfare Society echoed Masud and said, “Hundreds of flower farmers are in trouble now. They’re now feeding cattle with roses, tube roses, gladiolus, gerbera from their gardens,” he said.

“We are frustrated and thinking about when the situation will go back to normal. Thinking about the aftermath and the losses caused by this situation also creates panic.”