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Despite shrinking space in the concrete jungle of Dhaka, nursery business is gaining momentum as the city dwellers become more interested in various forms of gardening from their love for nature and to meet their appetite for aesthetics.
The increased eagerness of people to have a garden on their rooftop or balcony or to landscape their small piece of the lawn as well as their awareness to conserve nature contributed to the booming of the sector.
Taxonomists said nurseries are usually of four types — plant breeding nursery, propagation nursery, maturing nursery, and garden centre. The plant breeding nurseries in Bangladesh are in public sector and most of the private sector nurseries fall under three other categories.
The private sector nurseries in Dhaka are basically garden centres as they sell ready to plant saplings. These are located at Agargaon, Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, Doyel Chattar, Ramna, Bailey Road, Savar, Ashulia, Uttara, Mirpur, Kurmitola, Bashundhara, Purbachal Expressway, Rayer Bazar, and Mohakhali.
There are also a number of horticulture centres of the Department of Agricultural Extension at places in Dhaka and non-governmental organisation Brac also runs a nursery in Gulshan.
There are some propagation and maturing nurseries in Savar, Gazipur and Narayanganj who mostly supply saplings to the nurseries in Dhaka.
According to Bangladesh Nursery Malik Samity, there are 350 nurseries in Dhaka and 22,000 nurseries across the country and their total investment is more than Tk 10,000 crore.
“At least one lakh people are directly involved in the nursery sector and more than three lakh people are indirectly involved with the sector,” said Md Nazrul Kabir, general secretary of the samity.
Nazrul said the volume of nursery business was doubled in the past four to five years for low investment and high demand of plants among people.
He also said social media contributed to the boom of the nursery business as it acted as a vital tool to reach out to people and the response in online was huge.
Nursery owners said plants of flowers and fruits which can be planted on tubs and buckets were on high demand. Besides some hobbyist gardeners also show interest in vegetables and herbs, they said.
Saplings of China orange is sold at Tk 450, hybrid mango and Pakistani pomegranate saplings at Tk 300, Malay apple and lotkon at Tk 120, papaya at Tk 50.
There is also demand for bonsai among plant lovers as these are used as decoration pieces. Prices of bonsai range between Tk 450 and 1500. Cactus and orchid are also one high demand.
Muhammad Masud, a nursery businessman in front of the police headquarters on Bailey Road, said he started the nursery with a capital of only Tk 30,000 three decades ago and managed his entire family expenses from its return. Now he has plants worth above Tk 3 lakh. Hailed from Noakhali, Masud is well-known among plant lovers in the area.
Masud said the size of his business almost tripled in the past three to four years. His monthly sales ranged between Tk 10,000 and Tk 12,000 three years ago but now it is between Tk 25,000 and Tk 30,000.
He said now he could save more than Tk 10,000 every month after meeting all the expenses.
Bashir Miah hawks a vast range of plans on a rickshaw van in Mirpur area. His collection ranges from rose to gerbera, from mint to oregano, and plants of hybrid plums to nim.
Bashir said once he used to roam around alleys of the locality to sell plants but now, he remains stationary on Panir Tankir Goli of Mirpur 10 and people reach him to get plants. “I often fail to meet their demand instantly. In that case, I take orders from my customers and supply those later,” he said.
“There is no greenery in the area. So, people want to have small greenery on their balconies or roofs,” he said.
Tofazzel Islam runs a nursery on the pavement near Doyel Chattar at Dhaka University for the past four decades. He also has another nursery and all his family expenses come from the two nurseries.
Five years ago, there were hardly five to six nurseries at Doyel Chattar and now there is at least 25 to 30 nurseries, Tofazzel said.
“I have a collection of 250 to 260 varieties of saplings and all are sold well. Sales of flowers and fruit saplings are high now,’’ Tofazzel said.
Businessman Muhammad Anisuzzman came to Doyel Chattar along with his son to buy plants for the balcony of his flat. He bought 11 saplings at Tk 23,000.
“Had I owned a building, I would turn its roof a garden,” he said.
Jamshed Alam, professor and chairman at the Department of Agricultural Extension and Information System at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, said the nursery business was increasing despite a price hike of saplings.
“Most of the city dwellers are gardening from a hobby. I think the government should take necessary steps to ensure a reasonable price of saplings and other ingredients required for gardening,” he said.
