Kathmandu, September 26

A survey carried by the government has shown that only 561 farmers across the country are involved in commercial farming of flower.

According to the Commercial Floriculture Survey 2014-15, unveiled by Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) today, only 561 farmers are engaged in floriculture in a commercial scale. The survey has defined commercial floriculture as farming of flowers being done on at least eight aanas of land in mountain/hill regions and 10 dhur of land in Tarai regions.

The survey report shows that commercial floriculture is done in 36 districts over 147.4 hectares of land. While Kathmandu is at the top in terms of producing flowers commercially, Lalitpur, Morang, Bhaktapur and Kaski are the other top four districts where floriculture is done commercially. Of the total farmers doing commercial farming of flower, 283 are based in Kathmandu.

The Commercial Floriculture Survey 2014-15, which according to stakeholders is the first authentic database of domestic floriculture industry, shows that Tamang tribe is mostly engaged in commercial farming of flowers in the country. According to the survey, 27.9 per cent of owners of total commercial floriculture farms of the country are Tamangs, followed by those from Chhetri and Newar tribes at 18.1 per cent and 15.3 per cent, respectively.

Similarly, the survey also shows that 29 per cent of owners of such flower farms are women.

The CBS report also shows that domestic floriculture industry is contributing Rs 450 million annually on an average to the country’s GDP.

“The survey report gives tentative facts and figures of Nepal’s floriculture sector. As there were no authentic database of the industry prior to this, the survey report will be a boon for floriculture sector and support the government in planning and introducing policies in the sector,” Nebin Lal Shrestha, deputy director general of CBS, said adding that the report could also be a base for researchers who plan to carry out studies in Nepal’s floriculture sector.

During unveiling of the report today, officials of Floriculture Association of Nepal (FAN) had urged the government to introduce subsidised loans for floriculture farming as the survey report revealed 26 per cent of the farmers were running their floriculture business by taking a loan and 61 per cent of the farmers have taken their land on lease.

According to the survey, farmers have basically suggested the government to manage subsidised loan for farmers involved in flower farming to promote the sector. They have also highlighted the need for technical trainings for those involved in floriculture and to develop irrigation facilities. Farmers have also suggested the government to fix the price of flowers to ensure price uniformity across the country.

Major findings

• Kathmandu at the top in terms of commercial production of flowers
• 9pc of owners of total commercial floriculture farms are from Tamang tribe
• 29pc of owners of flower farms are women
• Floriculture contributes Rs 450 million to country’s GDP annually