Bhubaneswar, Jan 13: The Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS), faculty of agricultural sciences of SOA Deemed to be University here, will be organizing the two-day first SOA Flower Festival coinciding with the International Flower Day on January 19.
The festival will be held in the IAS premises on January 19 and 20, according to the Dean of the institute, Prof. Santosh Kumar Rout.
The festival, on the first day, will feature exhibitions of different flowers and flower arrangements besides competitions while a symposium will be held on the second day focusing on scientific methods of floriculture, information about provision of government incentives for flower cultivation and availability of bank loan for the purpose.
The symposium will be attended by experts on floriculture, bank officials, officers of the government’s Directorate of Horticulture and entrepreneurs in the field, Prof. Rout said.
“We expect the festival will not only attract flower lovers and farmers but the competitions will draw flower lovers, entrepreneurs and members of the public,” Prof. Sashikala Beura, Head of the Department of Floriculture and Land Scaping at IAS, said.
Presently, different kinds of flowers are being cultivated in around 10,000 hectares of land in Odisha where farmers are growing varieties of flowers including Rose, Orchids, Marigold, Jasmine, Chrysanthemum, Tube Rose, Crossandra and Gerbera for export. Production of seeds has also become a profitable business, she said adding the state’s geography, climate and soil were highly suitable for floriculture.
