Int’l Flora Expo from Thursday

Kathmandu, March 26

The Floriculture Association of Nepal (FAN) is holding the third edition of the International Flora Expo 2017 in the Capital from March 30.

Organised with an aim to promote floriculture business in the country in order to discourage flower imports, florists from different countries like South Korea, India, China, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, among others will be participating in the event, as per FAN. The event is being organised with the slogan ‘Floriculture business for peace, prosperity and healthy environment’.

Holding a pre-event conference today, FAN officials informed that the flower exhibition this year has altogether 99 stalls of which 28 stalls have been booked by foreign florists.  As per FAN, domestic florists will showcase more than 450 types of seasonal flowers and cut flowers in the event.

Similarly, exhibitors will also put on display different agriculture equipment and technology, green house models, seeds, dry flowers and fertilisers, among others.

“Nepal is almost self-reliant in flowers as nearly 90 per cent of the demand in the market is met through domestic production,” said Kumar Kasaju Shrestha, president of FAN, adding that the international exhibition will promote Nepali flowers in the international market and help boost flower exports.

According to Shrestha, FAN will also host an international seminar on ‘Practices in Modern Floriculture Technology’ during the event that will help Nepali florists learn and adopt new technologies in floriculture business. “The event will offer a platform to stakeholders of domestic floriculture industry where opportunities can be shared and problems can be raised,” Shrestha said.

Meanwhile, FAN is also organising a flower competition during the event under 11 different categories to encourage domestic florists.

Organisers have expected a turnover of Rs 7.5 million during the four-day event. Similarly, FAN has set a target to draw 65,000 visitors in the event.

FAN statistics show that the commercial floriculture business in Nepal, which started six decades back, is today spread across 39 districts of the country. Currently, there are 678 flower nurseries across the country and commercial floriculture is done in almost 148 hectares of land.

FAN claims that almost 41,000 people are directly involved in floriculture business in the country.