KATHMANDU, Nov 2: The 12th Godavari Flower Expo 2018 kicked off at Jawlakhel Football Ground in Lalitpur on Thursday.
The four-day exhibition is being organized by Floriculture Association Nepal (FAN) to promote the domestic floriculture industry. The event especially aims to target the upcoming Tihar and Chhath festivals.
Province 3 Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperative Minister Dawa Dorje Lama and FAN President Kumar Kasaju Shrestha jointly inaugurated the event. The exhibition has altogether 48 stalls, including 44 business stalls, three informative stalls and a flower competition stall.
The competition was held among gardeners to encourage them to produce better quality flowers and plants. Stall owners with varieties of Chrysanthemum (Godavari) flowers – spider, miniature, incurve, reflex and cut flower – were eligible to participate in the competition.
Over 450 varieties of Chrysanthemum, including seasonal flowers, decorative plants, dry flowers, compost fertilizers, gardening tools and seeds among others were put on display.
The price of flowers and plants being displayed at the exhibition ranges from Rs 25 to Rs 6,000. Along with domestic products, flowers imported from India, Holland, Thailand and other countries are also being showcased in the stalls.
As the entry is free, the organizer expects more than 36,000 visitors and a business transaction of around Rs. 4.5 million during the event.
“In the exhibition last year, I kept the stock of Rs 300,000 and made Rs 500,000. I have increased my stock this year to Rs 500,000 and hope to make better profits,” said stall owner Lila Kumari Ghimire, who is also the proprietor of Om Nursery Pvt Ltd.
Another stall owner Tirtha Bahadur Maharjan, who is also the competition's winner, said the expo is a good opportunity to promote the floriculture business. He also shared that the exhibition should showcase domestic flowers rather than the imported ones.
“As Tihar is just around the corner, this expo is a good ground for buyers to meet sellers. Godavari flowers are highly sought after in Tihar for decorative purposes,” added Maharjan.
While flower business owners expressed excitement to promote their products, they sought government support to strengthen the floriculture industry. They said the lack of support from the government, such as by imposing high tax rates, has made it difficult for them to produce plants and flowers on a large scale.