Monday.The two-day festival, organised by the Institute of Agricultural Sciences, theuniversity's faculty of agriculture, to coincide with the International Flower Day onJanuary 19, was inaugurated by Ms. Saswati Das, Vice-President of SOA.The festival's objective was to create awareness among the people aboutfloriculture and encourage farmers, flower traders, students and housewives totake to flower cultivation, Ms. Das said.Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda, Vice-Chancellor of SOA, who attended theinaugural program as guest of honour, said the festival would help connoisseursof flower learn how to grow flowers scientifically.Floriculturist, entrepreneurs, nurseries and individuals have participated inthe flower exhibition and competitions.The festival has 18 different stalls for live exhibits open to members ofpublic and competitions in 90 different categories.The second day of the festival will feature a panel discussion thetheme'Entrepreneurship in Floriculture '.The discussion will include scientific methods of flower cultivation, theincentives being offered by the government for flower cultivation and supportavailable from banks for such endeavours, Prof. Santosh Kumar Rout, Dean of(IAS) said. The inaugural program was also attended, among others, by Prof. ManjulaDas, Controller of Examination, SOA, Prof. Susanta Kumar Das, Dean, Institute ofVeterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Prof. Ruchi Bhuyan, Dean, Institute ofDental Sciences and Prof. Sashikala Beura, Head of Department of Floriculture andLand Scaping at IAS.
FIRST SOA FLOWER FESTIVAL INAUGURATED
