Jhapa. The demand for Sayapatri flowers has increased as Tihar, the second biggest festival of Nepalis, is approaching. The demand for Laxmi Puja has increased with the introduction of the tradition of decorating the house and decorating the brothers during the Tihar festival as well as garlanding the guests with marigolds in every program held in the district.

Bibek Sah, a flower farmer from Birtamod municipality-7, said that the number of people begging for Tihar festival is increasing almost every day. He has been doing commercial flower farming by renting two bigha of land in coordination with his brother-in-law Deepak Sah. Sah, who has planted 80,000 saplings of marigold, said that he has been selling 300 garlands every day. He has provided employment to the locals in flower picking and garland-making.

“Demands for Tihar have been pouring in”, Sah said, adding, “Last week’s incessant rainfall destroyed around 10,000 garlands.” I am worried about whether I will be able to meet the demand. The water had destroyed the flowers before they could pick them.

He said that he has been teaching traders of Birtamode, Damak and Biratnagar to sell 2 to 300 garlands daily. Locals throng his garden to make TikTok and take videos.

He said that he has been selling it at Rs 50 per garland. He said that although the price has been fixed at Rs 50 so far, the price will be fixed depending on the situation during Tihar. “The flowers have bloomed to look at,” he said, adding, “I have the courage to raise the investment even if it is damaged by the floods.” ’

According to him, the marigolds planted once can be picked up to three times. He said that 20,000 more garlands will be made from a single note. He said that he has set a target of producing and selling flowers with one lakh garlands during the Tihar festival, but expressed concern that the target could not be achieved due to lack of water.

Sah, who started flower farming for the first time, said, “The only thing that matters is to grow flowers, there will be no shortage of customers.” We will learn from this time and increase more farming in the coming days. ’

Similarly, Sushma Poudel of Birtamod municipality-9 has cultivated marigolds in 7 katthas of land. He said that some flowers have already been sold during the Dashain festival. The flowers in his garden have also been damaged due to the rain.

“Around Rs 250,000 worth of flowers saved for the Tihar festival were destroyed due to flooding”, Poudel said, adding, “There was a lot of demand but now we are not in a position to meet the demand.” He said that the demand has increased with the increase in the use of marigolds instead of khada in every program in recent times.

He has been involved in floriculture commercially for the past five years. Commercial marigold farming has begun in Birtamode, Bahundangi, Gauradaha among other places in the district.