Gundu women busy making Makhamali garlands

By Binu Shrestha,Kathmandu, Nov. 9: Tihar, the festival of flowers and lights, is just around the corner, and the women of Gundu-7 in Suryabinayak Municipality have been generating income selling Makhamali flowers.  

Makhamali flowers worth millions of rupees are produced in  Suryabinayak Municipality ahead of Tihar festival.

The farmers of Gundu are now busy plucking flowers and threading garlands for the fast-approaching Tihar festival. Gundu is famous for growing Makhamali (Globe amaranth) flowers. 

The traders from Kalimati, Ason, Indra Chowk and other markets of Kathmandu have already started visiting the Makhamali flower cultivators of Gundu-7 to collect the flower garlands for Bhai Tika. 

Normally, the farmers sell a flower garland at Rs. 22 to 25 to the wholesalers from their houses. The farmers who plant flowers in fields and empty spaces around their houses also earn Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 20,000 during the Tihar festival. Commercial farmers said that they earn from Rs. 100,000 to R. 800,000 by selling the flowers. 

Makhamali garland is culturally very important for the fifth or the last day of the Tihar festival known as Bhai Tika. Usually, the flower market shines during the Tihar festival. 

The women of Gundu said that they started picking Makhamali flowers in June/July and started making garlands for the Tihar festival.

Flower farmer and entrepreneur Parvati Nagarkoti said, "We make garlands when we have free time from household chores and farm work. The flowers can be harvested from June/July till October/November.  

Nagarkoti has planted not only maize on seven annas of her land, she has also planted Makhamali flowers as well as soybeans in the same field. 

She said, “All three crops have been good. I have been making flower garlands and bunches and selling them during the Tihar festival."  

Ranjana Basnet, who has been professionally engaging in floriculture for the past eight years, said that after deducting all the expenses she earns Rs. 700,000 to Rs. 800,000 annually by selling flowers. 

Women farmers of Gundu, who had been making a normal income during festivals from traditional flower cultivation, have become commercial flower farmers from since 2017. 

Seeing the market demand, they have been cultivating different types of flowers throughout the year. 

Ambika Bhandari, chairperson of Small Farmers Agriculture Cooperative Limited (SFACL), said, "The cooperative has been providing subsidies for the production and distribution of flower plants for the past three years with the aim of encouraging women farmers and businessmen of this region to take up flower farming.”

Chairperson Ambika said that 55,000 flower plants have been prepared and distributed to 310 farmers in the current financial year. For the past 20 years, flowers have been produced as a cash crop in the Gundu area. The local levels have also been supporting the farmers by giving financial grants.

The demand for Makhamali flowers is also high abroad. Nepali people staying or living in several countries abroad demand Makhamali garlands for Tihar, said Anita Basnet, a flower trader and farmer of Gundu in Ward No. 7 of the municipality.