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This study investigates the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the satisfaction level of flower farmers, market prices, farm income, profitability, efficiency and technological shifts of flower farmers based on the data collected from 113 sample flower farmers in Bangladesh. Satisfaction level was analyzed using satisfaction index while Tobit regr...
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... profitability changed dramatically before and during COVID-19. Table 4 represents a comparison of the profitability of annual flowers, i.e. gladiolus and marigold, before and during COVID-19. It can be seen that the cost of hiring labor and gladiolus seeds dropped by 26% and 28%, respectively. ...Context 2
... flowers can be categorized into "annual" and "perennial" flowers. It is depicted from Table 4 and appendix 3 that the profitability of all the flowers (annual: gladiolus and marigold; and perennial: tuberose, rose and gerbera) retrenched severely during the pandemic. Besides, input use such as hired labor, fertilizer, insecticides, pesticides, irrigation and harvesting cost have varied significantly under pandemic situation. ...Similar publications
The study was designed to estimate the costs, returns and resource use efficiency of tilapia fish farming in some selected areas of Mymensingh district. Both tabular and statistical techniques were used to achieve the objectives set for the study. The study revealed that the tilapia fish production is profitable business. Per hectare yield of tilap...
Citations
... Globally, the floriculture industry has experienced dramatic change within the past few decades regarding productivity and modern technology adoption in flower farming (Mitra et al., 2022). It has become a lucrative sector because of its contribution to employment generation, livelihood development, and reducing inequality and poverty due to its greater potential for export and revenue earnings from comparably lower capital investments (Tizazu & Workie, 2018). ...
... In addition, Singh et al. (2014), Mou (2012), and Momotaz and Banik (2020) focused mainly on the market price and profitability of different flowers. Mitra et al. (2022) investigated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the satisfaction level of flower farmers, market prices, farm income, profitability, efficiency, and technological shifts of flower farmers in Bangladesh. Kumar et al. (2023) identified the economic viability of different techniques of flower drying along with influencing factors like efficiency, economic feasibility, flower waste management, and sustainability. ...
... Two separate production functions are formed for credit-constrained and unconstrained flower farms. These frontiers are known as group frontiers to compare the performance across the farms within each group (Asmild, 2015;Jiang & Sharp, 2015;Mitra et al., 2022). An additional production frontier is designed by pooling both constrained and unconstrained farmers. ...
This study aims to investigate the variations in efficiency, technology gap, and profitability of flower producers depending on their credit constraint position. A total of 160 flower farmers have been selected from Bangladesh by using a multistage sampling technique. Meta-frontier Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is employed to estimate the efficiency differences and technological gaps depending on the credit constraint situation. At the same time, the Tobit regression model is used to estimate the factors influencing the meta-technical efficiency of flower farmers. Profitability differences depending on the credit constraint situation are identified using the gross margin and benefit cost ratio. The mean meta-technical efficiency for Marigold farmers is highest when unconstrained (0.73) and lowest when credit is constrained (0.64) relative to the meta-frontier, which indicates output could be increased by 27 and 36%, respectively, without increasing input. On the other side, the efficiency of credit-unconstrained rose farmers is slightly higher than that of constrained rose farmers. In addition, credit-constrained marigold farmers achieve the lowest technological gap ratio (0.64) compared to credit-unconstrained farmers. Sociodemographic and farm characteristics such as education, source of seed, land tenure, farm area, and age have a significant positive impact, while earning family members, types of flowers, and credit constraints have a significant negative effect on the technical efficiency of flower farmers. The profitability of credit-unconstrained marigold and rose farmers is higher than that of credit-constrained farmers. Facilitating the loan application process, easing the pre-conditions of loan acceptance, and adjusting the repayment schedule help to remove the credit-constrained situation.
... While flower farming was symbolized only by beauty, purity, love, and passion a few decades ago, it has emerged as a commercial business in recent decades due to the extensive use of flowers in different social rituals, contribution to the environmental planning of urban and rural areas, and generation of gainful employment for youth and women [26]. In addition, it has boosted income from flowers and export earnings while reducing poverty and income inequality in rural areas [27]. Nevertheless, the huge opportunity and productivity of flower farming have been badly affected by different risk factors such as price fluctuation, production loss, pest and disease attacks, high input costs, supply chin disruptions, climate change, natural calamities, and pandemics like COVID-19. ...
... During the COVID-19 pandemic, market prices for flowers have plummeted, and the profits of flower farmers have decreased sharply in developing countries. Moreover, the technical efficiency of flower farmers has reduced, while the technology gap ratio has widened during COVID-19 [27]. Insects, rodents, and plant diseases can devastate flower crops if not properly managed. ...
... In addition, the profitability and cost of flower farming may vary depending on the species of flowers. Mitra et al. [27] found that profitability of different annual and perennial flowers has plummeted because of the decreasing market price, lack of customers, and export disruption. ...
This study investigated the nexus among the profitability, sales, and willingness to pay (WTP) more for weather index-based agricultural insurance premiums of flower farmers. In addition, the effect of sociodemographic and farm characteristics of flower farmers on their WTP more for insurance premiums was also estimated. A total of 160 flower farmers were selected from Bangladesh using the purposive random sampling technique. Propensity score matching technique was employed to identify the sales difference depending on WTP for insurance premiums while the profitability differences of flower farmers were assessed from different points of view. A binary logistic regression model was used to estimate the effect of sociodemographic and farm characteristics of flower farmers on their WTP more for insurance premiums, while a Likert scale was used to identify the major problems faced by flower farmers. Flower growers are willing to pay a higher premium for insurance when their sales decline. Farmers with lower profitability show a greater WTP higher insurance premiums, whereas those with relatively higher profitability are less inclined to do so. Farmers’ WTP more for insurance premiums decreases with age, education, and farm area, while farmers’ WTP more for insurance premiums increases with experience, training, earning members, marigold farming, and consciousness about natural calamities, pests, and diseases. The most significant problems faced in flower production are high input costs, demand fluctuation, pest and disease attacks, price fluctuation, and loss of production. Thus, the introduction of crop insurance in flower farming may increase profitability and reduce the exposure to risks involved in flower farming. The involvement of younger and more trained farmers in flower farming will increase their WTP more for insurance premiums.
... It resulted in instant decrease in flower demand by 50% (Bulgari et al., 2021;Mandal et al., 2021). The demand of flowers decreased drastically at the local, national, and international markets due to complete lockdown or limited working hours, instantaneous job loss, lack of social gatherings and online sales, and possibility of corona virus infection from the flowers (Mitra et al., 2022). COVID-19 incurred an enormous negative effect on the agriculture sector and a combined action of government and the peoples can minimize it in the future in Bangladesh (Sarwar et al., 2021). ...
... The price of marigold decreased by 71% followed by gypsy (67%), gladiolus (67%), gerbera (61%) and tuberose (53%) ( Table 3). Similar results were reported from another study which summarized that the prices of rose, gerbera, tuberose and marigold decreased by more than 80% and for gladiolus, it was 96% due to COVID-19 (Mitra et al., 2022). The differences in price-decrease may be due to location of business. ...
... COVID-19 significantly decreased flower sales for all the national and social days except 14 and 16 December as there was no lockdown at that time (Table 4). Bangladesh has a long floricultural history due to its suitable climate (Mitra et al., 2022;Laboni et al., 2019;Islam and Rahman, 2013) and cultural heritage where wide use of flowers in various national, social, and cultural events increased demand of flowers largely (Khan et al., 2021). ...
Flower industry in Bangladesh is emerging as a new and profitable sector of having potential economic growth and employment opportunities with minimum investment. The study was conducted at Jhikargachha-the flower capital of Bangladesh-to investigate the effect of COVID-19 on flower trade. Data were collected from 60 respondents on 11 selected characteristics through an interview schedule during 5 January to 7 March 2021. Though the majority of the respondents (41%-75%) was young having secondary education, small-family and farm, they were inexperienced and untrained regarding flower cultivation and trade. However, more than three-fifths of them perceived the effect COVID-19 on flower cultivation and trade clearly. The celebration of national days in a limited scale or in online affected the flower trade to a high extent (95%) followed by less social gatherings (94.33%), and less marriage ceremonies (94%). Average price of rose, tuberose, gerbera, gladiolus, marigold, and gypsy decreased significantly due to COVID-19 in 2020 compared to 2019. Flower sales dropped by up to 100% during the Independence and National Day (26 March), Bengali New Year Day (14 April) and National Mourn Day (15 August) in 2020 due to complete lockdown. Ensuring transport, marketing and storage facilities of flowers may minimize the devastating effect of such a disaster. The family size of the respondents showed a positive and annual income had a negative significant relation with their perception regarding effect of COVID-19 on flower trade. Overall, COVID-19 collapsed the flower trade at the flower capital in Bangladesh. Development of future policies and setting up of strategies are required to mitigate the upcoming disasters in future.
... Managers while dealing with perishable goods need to adopt differentiated strategies in times of crisis by considering new forms of trade and right restructuring to tackle the detrimental loss of such a difficult period (Anacletol et al., 2021). Technological gap further added loss of this sector (Mitra et al., 2022) which is again a worthwhile lesson to learn and to adapt in stable time for succession. Altogether, the research has established the potentiality and importance of floristry in the economy of Bangladesh. ...
In the course of COVID-19, floristry all over the world passed through great distress. The paper examines the recent condition of the flower business amid the pandemic time in Bangladesh. A mixed-method approach has been applied where secondary data reveals the harm done to the flower cultivatable lands as many flower farmers started harvesting to meet their day's end once demand shattered. Further, primary data collected through interviews with retailers highlights the new threat of artificial (plastic) flowers, which are replacing the cut flower market because of their long product life and low cost. Yet again, this study indicates the prospect of the Bangladeshi floral business in cultivating exotic flowers, as nowadays even local people demand those rather than native flowers. Based on the findings, several recommendations have been suggested; successful implications of which will create employment, widen the domestic market, and promote Bangladesh towards international competition.
... Habanyati et al. (2022) also reported similar findings on the severe impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the agriculture sector of Tamil Nadu, India. Further, Mitra et al. (2022) assessed the effects of pandemic on the farmers of Bangladesh involved in flower cultivation. Sridhar et al. (2022) highlighted the points, which are important for the agricultural sustainability through adopting recent computational tools. ...
Imposing lockdown amid COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected flower cultivation and their trades. Flower plants are very sensitive to the harvesting, and any unexpected delay may cause great loss (~ 50–60%) to the farmers. In 2018–2019, the worth of total production of floriculture products was ~ Rs 571.38 crore. During lockdown, the availability of human laborers and restricted transport has disrupted the supply of flowers to the market. Hence, some alternative options are suggested here for the farmers, for example, conversion of decorative flowers (e.g., anthurium, China aster, globe amaranthus, sweet-william, anemone, sea lavender, etc.) and inflorescence (e.g., Michaelmas daisy, zinnia, statice, ferns, aspidistra, eucalyptus, magnolia, etc.) can also be into value-added products through drying and dehydration technologies. Many dehydration methods such as hot air oven, solar drying, press drying, freeze-drying, embedded drying, glycerine drying, and microwave oven drying polyester drying can be used for flower drying at room temperature (~ 25 °C). These floral and foliage dehydration techniques are quite simple, which can also be operated by unskilled persons. Moreover, it will generate self-employment for the youth and women along with increased revenue than selling fresh flowers. In this review, different techniques of flower drying have been discussed in detail along with the influencing factors, efficiency, economic feasibility, flower waste management and sustainability. Further, it has also been suggested how these techniques could be useful for farmers, researchers, and traders to create value-added products? Hence, the present paper could be very interesting for the flower growers, retailers, students, as well as floricultural scientists who are involved in flower production worldwide.
Graphical Abstract
... One of the important inputs is labor employed for applying feed, fertilizer, irrigation, and looking after the farm. The labor quantity is estimated in man-days per hectare where one man-day is 8 hours considered (Aktar et al., 2018;Mitra et al., 2021;Mitra et al., 2022;Mukta et al., 2019). The average labor used was 173 man-days/ha. ...
The productivity of beans has been boosted in recent decades all over the world. Nevertheless, bean production variability is observed from farm to farm indicating the presence of production risk and inefficiency in bean cultivation. This study aims to investigate the production risk and technical inefficiency of bean farms in Bangladesh. A total of 80 bean farmers were selected from Bangladesh using a purposive random sampling technique. The Kumbhakar model was employed to compute the risk and inefficiency of bean farmers. The result shows the significant production-increasing effect of irrigation and farm size while it also implies the significant production-decreasing effect of seed and fertilizer. In addition, the risk of bean production has increased with the farm labor, irrigation, and farm size while the risk of bean production has reduced with the fertilizer. The result of technical efficiency implies that farmers can significantly decrease their input use while maintaining the same level of output. In addition, technical inefficiency has increased with the age and training of farmers while it has decreased with the extension services received by the farmers. Adopting appropriate scientific management practices is imperative to increase efficiency and reduce the production risk of bean farmers. Additionally, the government should provide sufficient credit facilities and enough subsidies on expensive inputs that help to decrease the financial risk of bean growers.
... Different sub-sectors of agriculture, including aquaculture, are highly susceptible and vulnerable to the rapid social and economic effects of COVID-19. The COVID-19 has caused considerable disruption in the supply chain due to the transportation halting, notably in developing Asian and African countries [6][7][8][9], resulting in significant losses for fish farmers and industry enterprises. It was evident that stocked fish in ponds caused a frequent financial burden to the farmers since they had to buy more fish feed to keep them alive [6,10]. ...
This study investigated the effects of COVID-19 on the market prices, spending on fish purchases, and consumer satisfaction level based on a random survey of 247 fish consumers in Bangladesh. The Propensity Score Matching (PSM) was employed to make comparisons between two consumer groups (who consumed Pre-COVID-19 and during COVID-19). Besides, consumer satisfaction with income, purchase frequency, quantity consumed, market price, fish quality, and availability during the pandemic was analyzed using the relative index, while the Tobit regression model was used to estimate the determinants of satisfaction level. Prices of cultured and captured fish species such as pangas, catla, mrigel, common carp, mola, tengra, bayeem, boal, shoil, have experienced sharp price fluctuation during COVID-19 due to supply chain disruptions and changing fish supplies in the market. The reduction in expenses on culture fish species varied from 4.212 while the reduction in expenses on capture fish species ranged from 8.178. In addition, low-income individuals are relatively less satisfied with their income, amount, frequency, and price of fish purchases than the lower middle, upper middle- and high-income groups. Consumer satisfaction declined during COVID-19 while income, frequency, and quantity of purchases plummeted and fish market prices increased. Therefore, the government might place a greater emphasis on eradicating supply chain disruption during pandemic like COVID-19 by avoiding nationwide lockdown to maintain stability in the market prices of fish, spending on fish purchases, consumer income, and make all income groups satisfied.
... This is very common methodology used in performance benchmarking literatures, so we excluded the description of the technical parts of the model to minimize the size of the manuscript. A detail description can be found in (Rahman et al., 2019 andMitra et al., 2022). ...
Intensive pond aquaculture production is increasing and playing a major role in global aquaculture production, especially in developing countries. Empirical evidence shows that the access to and exchange of fresh water in tilapia pond aquaculture is important for making pond production ecologically more sound, efficient and productive. This study investigates productivity and efficiency differences between farms with access to open water resources and farms without access using data obtained from 311 interviews with tilapia farmers in Bangladesh. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and meta-frontier DEA have been employed to estimate productivity and efficiency differences between the groups. Results show that farms located in areas with access to open water resources are significantly more efficient, but a bit surprisingly less productive than farms located in areas with deficit access to water resources. Furthermore, output could be increased by 29% and 40% without increasing input in areas with good access and limited access to water, respectively. Thus, promoting intensive aquaculture pond production in areas with access to water resources should focus on how to increase productivity, while areas with limited access should focus on optimal use of input in order to improve water quality and efficiency.
... It was noticed that maximum flower cultivation and flower production was cultivated in the Jashore district (BBS, 2019). About six thousands farmer involved in flower cultivation commercially in Jashore and 600ha in Bangladesh (Mitra et al.,2022). So it needs to document the different flowers cultivated as well as its production and marketing system of flowers in Jashore district. ...
... Most of the farmer cultivated more than one flower for minimize loss and gain continue return. Though in the COVID-19 situation flower couldn't sold many farmer fall in loss and dissatisfied (Mitra et al., 2022) but flower cultivation was profitable. Market actors of different level was also faced investment loss. ...
The study was undertaken to assess the production and marketing system of different flower cultivated in Jashore district. Different flowers were cultivated and planted seed/seedling in different months, but their target was same as they sold it in a specific occasion. Gladiolus, rose, marigold, chrysanthemum, tuberose, gerbera, jasmine, gipsy etc. flowerwere cultivated commercially inJashore. Flower was used in different national, occasional and cultural day such as happy new year, valentines day, pohelafalgun, shaheed dibos, 17th march, independence day, pohelaboishakh, 15th August, victory day and many more. People buy flower for celebration of national day, marriage day, birth day and so on. Among the cultivated flower gladiolus, rose, tuberose, gerbera and marigold were 57%, 41%, 69%, 17% and 71% farmer respectively.Benefit cost ratio on the total cost basis was highest in gerbera cultivation (2.67) followed by tuberose (1.88), rose (1.81), gladiolus (1.78) and marigold (1.56) respectively. Farmer, farmer cum trader, paiker, arathdar cum paiker, retailer, consumer etc. were the main market actors of flower. Flower cultivation was profitable as its BCR was more than one. But some flower required huge amount of investment. People used flower as its esthetic value and share his feeling with others, so that the consumption of flower was increased day by day. Insect pest infestation was the main problem of flower. Transportation and storage were the main problem of flower marketing as it was perishable products. Training, supply of sapling, market linkage should by developed for proper cultivation, quick transportation, proper storage and other facilities to reduce spoilage and damage of flower.
