September 9: The floriculture business has lost more than Rs 50 million due to floods in different parts of the country. Continuous rainfall and floods in many parts of the country including Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Kavrepalanchok, Itahari, Butwal and Chitwan have damaged flowers grown in nurseries. Kumar Kasaju Shrestha, president of the Floriculture Association of Nepal, told New Business Age that the damage caused by the rains and floods is estimated to be around Rs 50 million.

According to him, 2 million seedlings were damaged by the floods in Bagmati and Dhobikhola rivers of Kathmandu on Monday (September 6). The floods have caused an estimated loss of more than Rs 4 million in Kathmandu alone. The floods have destroyed many flowers that were planted for the Dashain and Tihar festivals.

In Kavrepalanchok, 50,000 flower seedlings planted on 25 ropanis of land have been destroyed due to the impact of rain. The association informed that the full detail of the extent of damage on flowers of only Kathmandu district is available at the moment. Meanwhile, details of damage in the rest of the districts are also being collected. It is also estimated that Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts may also have suffered the same damage as of Kathmandu.

According to the association, florists and farmers, who have been suffering heavy losses due to the coronavirus pandemic, have been further affected by the floods due continuous rainfall since last week.

According to Shrestha, the flower business had incurred a daily loss of Rs 10 million during the lockdown period last year. Even at the present, the business is down to 30 percent compared to normal days.

Flower business is spread in 43 districts of Nepal. Around 700 entrepreneurs are involved in the flower business while 40,000 people are directly or indirectly involved in this business. According to the association, there is an investment of around Rs 6 billion in this sector.