By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR:The two-day ‘First Soa Pushpa Utsav’ was inaugurated on Monday by the Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS), an agricultural college run by the State Education and Research (SEAR).
This flower festival is being organized for two days on January 19th and 20th on the occasion of International Flower Day at the College of Agriculture, SOA Campus-4.
On this occasion, Vice President of SOAR, Mrs. Sashwati Das, graced the occasion as the chief guest and inaugurated the flower festival and expressed happiness that this festival is being organized for the first time. Mrs. Das said that the main objective of this festival is to encourage farmers, students, flower traders and housewives and how they can become self-reliant through flower cultivation. Mrs. Das, while looking around the various flower exhibitions displayed at the festival, appreciated such efforts. She said that this festival will be held on a bigger scale in the coming days.
Professor Pradeep Kumar Nanda, Vice Chancellor of SOAR, was the guest of honour at the inauguration ceremony and said that apart from students, housewives, farmers and businessmen can benefit from such an event and it can be developed through modern scientific methods. He said that SOAR’s efforts like this are aimed at increasing enthusiasm and creating interest in flowers among the people.
Flower farmers, flower entrepreneurs, various nurseries, institutions and flower lovers have been invited to participate in various competitions for flower exhibitions and participate in flower-related discussions. The Vice Chancellor said that this flower festival will instill a unique enthusiasm among flower lovers and strengthen the self-confidence of the farmers.
The two-day flower festival will feature 18 stalls and 90 flower stalls, with various competitions being held and will be open to the public from 11 am to 7 pm. The competition includes floral rangoli, loose flower section, flower arrangement, flower bouquet, etc.
On the first day, various flower exhibitions and flower competitions were organized. On the second day, a discussion on the scientific methods of flower cultivation, government incentives for flower cultivation, agricultural loans from banks, and flower industrialization was held. The aim was to create flower farmers in the next five years, how they can become self-reliant, and how flower farmers can be encouraged in the agricultural sector, said Professor Santosh Kumar Raut, Chairman of SOA College of Agriculture.
The inaugural ceremony was attended by Controller of Examinations Professor Manjula Das, Dean of the Institute of Dental Sciences (IDS) Professor (Dr) Ruchi Bhuyan, Dean of the Institute of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry (IVSAH) Professor Susanta Das, Director of the Pushpa Festival and Head of the Department of Flowers and Horticulture Professor Sashikala Beura, Heads of various departments of the College of Agriculture, professors, students and staff.
Farmers in Odisha are earning lakhs of rupees by cultivating gerbera, roses and orchids etc. and exporting them. Similarly, the production of seeds of plants used for various seasonal flowers can also become a profitable business.
Currently, flowers are cultivated on about 10,000 hectares of land in Odisha. Since the state’s geographical location, climate, and soil are very suitable for flower cultivation, Odisha farmers are focusing on cultivating flowers like roses, marigolds, hyacinths, gladiolus, malli, sevati, and itimala along with perennial agriculture.
