The branches of the Basdol in Banepa-12 are golden with the clusters of centipedes. The centipedes in full bloom in the garden indicate that Tihar is just around the corner. With Tihar approaching, 58-year-old Madhav Ghimire is in a hurry to pick centipedes and take them to the market. Every year, during Dashain and Tihar, he is overwhelmed by the routine of this work.

Since the demand for flowers is high during festivals, he is in a hurry to deliver flowers to the market as per the demand. With the increase in the demand for flowers in the market, 5 workers and his family members are currently helping in the garden daily.

This busyness, hustle and bustle of work is not just today, it has been his daily life for the past 4 years since he started his flower business. From morning to evening, he is playing with the flower plants in the garden. He is busy with tasks such as planting, weeding, watering and other things. His passion for floriculture is not new.

Madhav Ghimire, who hails from Morang, had reached Saudi Arabia for foreign employment. He worked in Saudi Arabia for 18 years and then went to Israel from Saudi Arabia and learned floriculture. He is putting that skill to good use after returning home.

He came to Kavre from Morang and has been cultivating flowers in Basdol, Ward No. 12, Banepa Municipality for the past four years. ‘The only skill he knows is growing flowers and vegetables,’ he said. ‘I started cultivating flowers by putting that skill to good use because I thought it would have good potential in Nepal.’ He has rented 20 ropanis of land and planted Japanese and Thai hybrid varieties of centipede flowers.

‘In places like Kathmandu, there is a temple at every 50 meters,’ he said, ‘A temple consumes at least 5 kg of flowers a day. Since there are thousands of temples, planting centipedes would be a good business. After realizing that the business would be good if centipedes were planted, the flower farming that started with 5 ropanis was expanded to 20 ropanis, where 20,000 centipede plants have been planted.’

According to him, cultivating centipedes does not require as much effort and investment as other crops. Only 15 to 20 percent of the total income is spent. ‘Last year, the flower market was fine,’ he said, ‘2500 to 3,000 kg of flowers were sold at 200 to 400 rupees per kg, and after deducting expenses, an income of 8/10 lakh rupees was earned.’

According to him, this year the flowers have also bloomed well and their market is also good. He expects to sell 7/8 thousand kilos of flowers this year. This year, he estimates that the price of flowers is between Rs 400 and Rs 600 per kg, and he expects to make a good income. This year, he has sold 2500 kg during Dashain itself. He said that he earned Rs 500,000 from this. He estimates that he will earn Rs 16-17 lakh by selling centipede flowers during Tihar. According to him, Rs 3-4 lakh has been spent so far on centipede flowers planted four months ago. He said that while planting centipede flowers, attention should be paid to air and water, timely weeding, and treatment with medicines in case of diseases and pests. ‘It is difficult to save the flowers only if there is a lot of rain,’ he said. ‘The flowers last until frost, there is a demand for them for 12 months.’ According to him, there is no problem for the market either. He said that they will be sold especially in Kathmandu. ‘A lot of demand comes from Kathmandu,’ he said, ‘Some people come to the garden and take it, the only time there is a special demand for it is during Tihar, during Tihar we cannot sell as per the demand.’ 

According to him, the demand for flowers has increased a lot this year after locals posted photos and videos of the garden on social media. ‘We are not able to supply as per the demand,’ he says. 

According to him, the centipede flower has generated good income for the last two years. He said that after the flowers did not find a market for them in just one year, they even threw the flowers into the river.  He said that after the ban on imported flowers from India last year, the flowers of local farmers found a market.