Bhubaneswar: The city burst into life with vibrant colours and sweet fragrance of fresh blooms as the inaugural SOA Flower Festival began on Monday.
This two-day celebration organised by the Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS), the university’s faculty of agriculture, timed to coincide with International Flower Day on January 19, transformed the campus into a stunning display of petals, perfumes, and floral artistry.
The event, inaugurated by SOA vice-president Saswati Das, featured an impressive exhibition with 18 live stalls showcasing a wide variety of flowers, open to the public for viewing. Participants,
including floriculturists, entrepreneurs, nursery owners, and individuals, competed in 90 different categories of flower arrangements and cultivation displays. “The festival’s objective is to create awareness among the people about floriculture and encourage farmers, flower traders, students and housewives to take to flower cultivation,” she said.
Vice-Chancellor of SOA Pradipta Kumar Nanda, who attended the inaugural program as guest of honour, said the festival would help connoisseurs of flower learn how to grow flowers scientifically.
The second day of the festival will feature a panel discussion on the theme ‘Entrepreneurship in Floriculture’. “It 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,” said Dean of (IAS) Santosh Kumar Rout.
The festival has already drawn crowds of visitors eager to immerse themselves in the sea of colours and learn more about the world of flowers.