Bhubaneswar, Jan. 20: Amidst blooming flowers and a sea of colours, the first SOA Flower Festival was inaugurated at the SOA Deemed University here on Monday.
The two-day festival, organised by the Institute of Agricultural Sciences, the university's faculty of agriculture, to coincide with the International Flower Day on January 19, was inaugurated by Ms. Saswati Das, Vice-President of SOA.
The festival's objective was to create awareness among the people about floriculture and encourage farmers, flower traders, students and housewives to take to flower cultivation, Ms. Das said.
Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda, Vice-Chancellor of SOA, who attended the inaugural program as guest of honour, said the festival would help connoisseurs of flower learn how to grow flowers scientifically.
Floriculturist, entrepreneurs, nurseries and individuals have participated in the flower exhibition and competitions.
The festival has 18 different stalls for live exhibits open to members of public and competitions in 90 different categories.
The second day of the festival will feature a panel discussion on the theme 'Entrepreneurship in Floriculture '.
The discussion will include scientific methods of flower cultivation, the incentives being offered by the government for flower cultivation and support available from banks for such endeavours, Prof. Santosh Kumar Rout, Dean of (IAS) said.
The inaugural program was also attended, among others, by Prof. Manjula Das, Controller of Examination, SOA, Prof. Susanta Kumar Das, Dean, Institute of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Prof. Ruchi Bhuyan, Dean, Institute of Dental Sciences and Prof. Sashikala Beura, Head of Department of Floriculture and Land Scaping at IAS.
