Thousands throng to witness Flower Show- 2016

BHUBANESWAR: Thousands of plant lovers thronged to witness the annual Flower Show- 2016, which was inaugurated by Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi on Saturday in the premises of Ekamra Kanana Botanical garden here.

Padhi said that floriculture in Odisha offers growing business and employment generation opportunities.

The government has put in place the supporting mechanism and various schemes for promotion of the floriculture and its trade.

Being an entrepreneur driven and government supported the event, Padhi said, this exhibition is gaining popularity each year with more and more business prospects.

The exhibition is scheduled to be held for two days up to January 10.

The officials visited the exhibition to see cut-flower, flower arrangement, floral displays, plant bazar, mini-garden, mini-forest, nurseries and exhibition stalls.

27 nurseries along with 16 agro-business farms have participated in the exhibition and interacted with the participants.

Chief Secretary Padhi discussed with participating agro-farms and flower farmers regarding their business activities and future road-map.

On this occasion, Chief Secretary also inaugurated two books entitled Carnivorous Plants of Odisha authored by Prasad Kumar Das and 24th Volume of the Journal Sabujima published by Plant Lovers Association.

This year around 88 gardens have participated in it. The number of participants in cut flower, flower arrangement, group display potted flowering foliage categories have increased up to 500.

Various competitions in flower decoration cut flower and garden display varieties were organised. The gardens situated within 20 km radius of Bhubaneswar were included in the competitions.

The subject experts from OUAT have been nominated as judges for various competitions.

Around 61 individuals and institutions have been selected for prizes in different categories of competitions. A plant bazaar has been organised in the exhibition where ornamental plants, flowering plants, seeds, fertilisers, implements, garden tools, pesticides are being made available to the people on sale.

The exhibition is being organised each year since 2005 on 2nd Saturday and Sunday of the month of January.

Last year, around 1,00,000 plant lovers visited the exhibition. This year the number of visitors are likely to increase said Dr P.C. Panda, Principal Scientist of Regional Plant Resource Center (RPRC), Bhubaneswar.

The RPRC in collaboration with the Plant Lovers Association, Bhubaneswar has organised this exhibition.