Golam Rabbani from Kurigram:

Gladiolus varieties of flowers in South Africa are being cultivated commercially at different places in Kurigram district that brings smile to the farmers.

Many are purchasing the flowers, while many are showing interest to plant those on their yards of the houses and even gardens with the aim to enhance beautification.

Noor Bakhat, 55, of Taluk Kalowa village under Kathalbari union in Kurigram Sadar upazila has cultivated the flower on his 50 decimal of land besides marigold and sunflowers. He is now expecting to sell the flowers at about Tk 1 lakh in the current season. Per stick of Gladiolus flowers is being sold between Tk 5 and Tk 25 according to colour and quality. The flowers, produced in his orchard, are now being sold at different local markets. Not only that, those are also being supplied to Lalmonithat and other neighboring districts for sell.

While talking, Noor Bakhat told The Daily Sky Correspondent that, “Earlier, I had no idea to cultivate such kind of flowers. I took part in an exhibition plot program under supervision of Agriculture Extension Department in Kurigram in the fiscal year 2018-19.”

“Finding the eagerness of the visitors, I was interested to cultivate flowers on my land in next year. Now, I am cultivating various varieties of flowers as these are more profitable compared to paddy, jute and potato. It takes short time to yield. Besides, there is a good demand of flowers in the market around the year” he added.

Like Noor Bakhat, many farmers are now cultivating such variety of flowers in their lands commercially with the aim to earn a good profit. Due to price hike of fertilizers and pesticides, cultivation of other crops including paddy has almost turned into non-profitable. This is why, many are looking for alternative.

According to the AED sources, light irrigation, fertilizer and pesticides are needed to cultivate those flowers. As a result, there is no need to spend huge money for producing such flowers.

He further said, “It is possible to collect flowers from the orchard after 75 days of sowing. Now, I have decided to cultivate such kind of Gladiolus varieties of flowers on my land in a large scale.”

Biplab Kumar Mohonta, Deputy Director of Agriculture Extension Department in Kurigram told The Daily Sky that, “Such new variety of flower cultivation may play a vital role in the country’s economy. We are also providing assistance to the farmers in which they are highly interested to cultivate such type of flowers in their lands besides other crop farming. We are also expecting that, the cultivation of such flowers will be increased in the district in future.”