A charming article on a Chinese website (in tortured English) discusses the changes in fortunes of Bangladesh citizens thanks to floriculture.
"Many families are being involving in flower trade and flower is the lone source of income of many families in Bangladesh."
Full Article
Floriculture changing lots of many in Bangladesh
by Pan Xiaozhu
DHAKA, Nov. 30 (Xinhuanet) — Ahsanullah used to visit the
Dhaka botanical garden almost everyday in his childhood because he
livednearby and often picked some flowers there to take home, which
generated a strong will in him to grow flowers at home.
Ahsanullah with his strong will started growing some roses
in flowerpots at his home. His neighbors came to buy flowers from
him.Many of them then wanted to buy flower seedlings from him.
With the good amount of money he fetched from flowers,
Ahsanullah started to expand his flower cultivation and now he
cultivates flowers on 70 acres of land, bringing around 500,000 taka
(8,333 US dollar) for him annually.
Flower cultivation changed his lot and now he has a palatial house in the Bangladeshi capital and four trucks.
There are thousands in Bangladesh like Ahsanullah who have
taken floriculture and trade with flowers as their professions andare
making their fortunes. Floriculture is gaining popularity in the
world’s most densely populated nation of 130 million.
Investors are not lagging behind. They have come up and
investing in the trade as floriculture has become a profitable
business.
Since flower trade in Bangladesh is growing, some men and
women are coming up in the profession in a bigger way. Many families
are being involving in flower trade and flower is the lone source of
income of many families in Bangladesh.
Nina Faruk, a middle-aged woman is one of them. She owns
an organization named Ikebana. Her hobby during her childhood was to
decorate houses with flowers. Now she has taken it as a profession.She
now does the decoration job in wedding, birthday and state functions.
"Bangladesh is still not self-reliant in flower. Some
times flowers are being imported from India, Thailand and Malaysia, but
the trade has enough potential in this country," Nina Faruk said.
She said the government should help the persons involved
in floriculture. "Otherwise, growing flowers in a bigger way and their
trade are not possible," said the woman.
Talking about life span of several flowers in Bangladesh
which are not produced with commercial purposes, Syed Hadiuzzaman, a
professor in the Botanical Department of Dhaka University, said many
countries in the world are making life of flower longer by using latest
technologies, but those technologies are still absentin this poor
nation.
This is the job of genetic engineering, which has not been
developed in Bangladesh. If these technologies had been in Bangladesh,
this could be used in some Bangladeshi flowers to bring them in
commercial production, he said.
Hadiuzzaman said that "we should not bring orchid from
other countries. We should bring our own orchid to commercial
productionand we could have better orchid, having them cross-breed and
these orchid would give flowers more than once a year."
A change in taste of people or traditions is noticed in
people in Bangladesh like people in other countries of the world.
Now-a-days you can see flower shops in almost all city points, road
junctions. Also you can see little children are rushing toward your
vehicle with some flowers in hand when it stops at a road crossing.
People in Bangladesh now use natural flowers instead of flowers made of
papers or plastics in their social functions, family occasions, and
festivals.
But this situation was totally absent in Bangladesh about
two decades ago. And it is more astonishing that there is a wholesale
flower market in the capital Dhaka, where flowers worth at least one
million taka (16,000 dollar) are sold everyday. And 700 sellers from
neighboring areas gather in the wholesale market everyday.
If you look at the rooftops of houses in cities and towns
of the congested country, you will see some flowerpots with flowers.
There is no survey on the flowers being cultivated
commercially. According to sellers, rose and tuberose can meet two
thirds of the country’s demand.
POLLENATRIX 