This story was translated from Nepali. Read the original in Nepali
Dhangadhi. Sushila Bista of Matyari, Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City-6, has been farming flowers commercially for the past three years. She started after learning from a flower-farming training given by Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City.
Sushila, who farms flowers through New Bandoli Nursery Concern Farm, has become self-reliant and is earning from it. Started with an investment of Rs 500,000, her flower business now has Rs 5 million invested in it.
Farming flowers commercially on two bigha of leased land, Sushila said she has an annual turnover of Rs 5 million. She has also given jobs to 11 local people, from raising seedlings and weeding to caring for the plants. Their salaries cost Rs 180,000 a month. After all expenses, she says, she saves Rs 2 million a year.
‘I have been covering all the expenses of my family of ten from this business,’ she said. ‘Since flower farming started earning well, my financial situation has improved and I have become self-reliant.’ Sushila, who sells flowers at Rs 400 per kilogram, said she sells them in all nine districts of the province, including Kailali and Kanchanpur. Sometimes she also sends them to Kathmandu on demand. She now runs a flower sales centre on the premises of Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City, selling flowers, garlands, bouquets, bunches and other flower products.
Sushila’s farm grows various kinds of flowers, including marigold, chrysanthemum (godavari), rose, tuberose (rajanigandha), gypsophila and gladiolus. She said she also produces and sells flower seedlings. Demand for flowers and decoration materials has been growing in Dhangadhi recently. Her flowers are used at weddings, bratabandha ceremonies, formal events, religious and cultural festivals, school programmes and other auspicious occasions, she said.
Her flower farming has also inspired others who want to start agricultural enterprises locally.
