Kathmandu, October 18

The 13th Godavari Flower Exhibition has started ahead of the Tihar festival in Jawalakhel ground from today.

Inaugurating the exhibition, Agriculture Minister Chakrapani Khanal expressed commitment to form new policies to ease the commercial flower business in the country.

“The government is aware about the policy-level hurdles for the commercial flower businesses in the country. I assure you that the government will soon bring policies to regulate and develop flower business in the country,” he said.

He further said that the flower business is not flourishing as expected in the country. Hence, the minister has requested florists to present their issues and plans related with flower business. “The government is always ready to cooperate with the entrepreneurs to make the country self-reliant in flowers,” the minister said, further assuring that entrepreneurs need not worry about lack of budget to get their concerns addressed.

The four-day-long exhibition organised by Floriculture Association of Nepal (FAN) will continue till Monday. According to FAN, the exhibition has a total of 44 stalls of flowers and four information centres. Likewise, one stall has been dedicated for the competition of chrysanthemum flowers. The organisers expect around 35,000 visitors to observe the exhibition with transactions of around Rs five million during the event.

During the inauguration ceremony the agriculture minister handed over prizes to the winners of flower competition today. While Samjhana Nursery won the title prize of the Godavari Flower Exhibition, TPR Miteri Nursery grabbed second prize and Bangalamukhi Nursery secured the third prize in the competition. Along with the certificates, the first, second and third winners also received cash prizes of Rs 10,000, Rs 6,000 and Rs 4,000, respectively.