Kathmandu, March 30

Vice-president Nanda Bahadur Pun has urged domestic floriculture entrepreneurs to develop any one city of the country as ‘the city of flowers’ as done in many countries, including China.

Addressing the inaugural session of third International Flora Expo which kicked off in the Capital today, VP Pun emphasised on the need to increase production of flowers to boost its export.

“The favourable climate of Nepal provides an opportunity for production of any species of flower. If we are able to enhance commercial floriculture in Nepal, it will bring down the increasing dependency of the country on agriculture products,” he said, adding that the government should support entrepreneurs for commercial floriculture business.

Pashupati Murarka, president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the government should provide unused government land for floriculture to encourage farmers. Similarly, he highlighted need to set up cold storage facilities for flowers to boost flower export.

The Floriculture Association of Nepal (FAN) is organising the four-day event to promote floriculture business in the country. The event has altogether 99 stalls, of which 28 stalls are occupied by foreign florists.

As per FAN, domestic florists are showcasing over 450 types of seasonal flowers and cut flowers in the event. Similarly, exhibitors are also putting on display agriculture equipment and technology, seeds, dry flowers and fertilisers, among others.