From local gardens to the national market: The case of cut flowers in Kathmandu

Emerging economies develop unevenly, with comparatively small and mostly urban areas being the centre of most development and the place of accommodation for those benefiting from it. In Nepal, a landlocked country graduating from least developed country status, that space is provided almost entirely by central Kathmandu, the capital city. It is there that consumption of consumer goods acquired commercially takes place almost completely. As a middle class emerges, it tends to aspire towards the professionalisation of important family-based rituals, such as weddings and births, as well as religious celebrations. In this situation, cut flowers represent a genuine commercial opportunity as these rituals are professionalised on a seasonal, at least partly predictable pattern. This paper examines how small-scale operations might come to participate in such a commercial sector and what problems and constraints they face in so doing. The result is an exposition of market development in an emerging market