KATHMANDU: The 13th Floriculture Trade Fair which is into its fourth day today saw over 35,000 visitors and a collection of Rs three million until yesterday.

“We have got a really good response to the fair, much better than what we had anticipated. Today it is a bit thin but tomorrow we are expecting a whole lot of people as it would be the last day of the fair,” said Arun Chhetri, president of Floriculture Association of Nepal.

As far as flowers are concerned, this year bougainvilleas have sold the most, “People have bought large numbers of bougainvillea flowers and plants.

Other than that a considerable amount of cut flowers have also been sold according to people’s choice,” added Chhetri.

The fair until yesterday generated Rs three million and according to Chhetri, it should touch anything up to Rs 6 million if there is a steady flow of visitors. He also said that there should be about 50,000 visitors by the end of tomorrow.

Besides flowers and plants the fair is also displaying a vast collection of gardening tools, seeds, bulbs and garden décor as well as fertilisers.

According to Chhetri, the government has been negligent as far as research and development in the agricultural sector are concerned. “There are only policies in the pipeline for the agricultural sector. As far as other facilities are concerned, there are barely any,” said Chhetri.

The 13th Floriculture Trade Fair kicked off on April 1 and is on till tomorrow at Bhrikuti Mandap’s Exhibition Hall.

The demand for flowers has been going up considerably over the years, according to FAN. The export of flowers has outpaced import by a huge margin. According to last year’s data, as against the import of flowers worth Rs 35 million, the export went up by Rs 60 million.

During festive seasons, the availability of flowers is about 90 per cent while it is 98 to 99 per cent on all other occasions

Flowers from Nepal are exported to India, Japan, European Union and Qatar making the floriculture a lucrative business. As per last year’s data, Nepal exported flowers worth Rs 560 million.

Of the total 600 nurseries across the nation, Kathmandu alone boasts of more than 160. The floricultural business directly or indirectly provides employment to over 30,000 people.