KATHMANDU, Oct 26: The incessant rainfall that took place on September 27 and 28 has inflicted significant damage to the floriculture business as well. As a result, the price of Marigold(Sayapatri) and Amaranth(Makhamali) flowers is expected to rise during the upcoming Tihar festival.
As per the chair of Nepal Floriculture Association Dilip Bade, flower buds that had just started blooming were damaged due to the incessant rain resulting in a loss of around Rs 150 million.
Floriculture counseling center in Dharan
For the upcoming Tihar festival, an estimated number of 1.5 million garlands are going to be imported from India. Bade said that last year the cost was Rs 65 to Rs 70 per garland but this year the wholesale price is predicted to be around Rs 80 to Rs 85 per garland.
There is an increase in demand by 700,000 Sayapatri flower garlands this year compared to last year. Last year 3.3 million garlands were sold during the Tihar festival. Of the total market demand for flower garlands, around 60 percent is from the people celebrating the festival of lights in Kathmandu Valley. As per Bade, there is a market demand for 4 million Sayapatri flower garlands for this year’s Tihar festival.
According to the Floriculture Association, though the market demand for this year's Tihar festival is 4 million garlands, the domestic producers can only supply about 2.5 million garlands. Under normal market circumstances, 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.
_20211027104204.jpg)
