Farmers in Nepal are gradually getting attracted to the cultivation of cut flowers as demand for flowers continues to soar both domestically and overseas. Cut flowers are flowers that have been cut from the main plant to be used as decoration.
However, farmers face a myriad of problems such as absence of land leasing policy for consolidated farming, hassles in getting a bank loan and the lack of support from the government. This is holding back the industry from fully taking off, said farmers and entrepreneurs.
Of the total flower varieties produced in the country, cut flowers generate Rs2 billion [18 million USD] in annual sales, which has the potential to grow by leaps and bounds if the government actually bothered to prioritise its sales, they said, adding, it could also help in reducing the country’s ballooning trade deficit.
Nepal has huge export potential for cut flowers due to different geographical terrain with suitable climate. Pandab Shrestha, owner of Srijana Cut Flower exported flowers to Korea and Japan as an experiment.
“The demand for cut flowers surprised me, nearly 50,000 sticks per week,” he said. His flower farm is capable of producing around 5,000 sticks of cut flowers daily.