The country can earn heavy foreign exchange by promoting floriculture that will help farming community not only increase their income but also alleviate poverty from the county. This was stated by experts at the inauguration session of international seminar on modern floriculture production and product development techniques arranged by the Institute of Horticulture Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad in collaboration with Programma Uitzending Managers (PUM) and Greenworks Lahore.
Chairing the session, UAF Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Iqbal Zafar said that having the huge potential to grow excellent flowers quality, our share in the international flower market is marginalized. We are importing it to meet our domestic demands. He added that it was the need of hour for diversification in the agriculture sector to fight the challenges of poverty, food security and other issues.
Floriculture expert from Netherlands Theo Rutten said that Pakistan was blessed with suitable climate to grow flowers of every season. But, the country was not tapping the potential. He added that the lack of awareness and non-implementations of sophisticated methods were the reason behind it.
He added in Netherlands, they have growers' cooperative with the history of 115 years. He said that they were exporting to more than 100 countries including Germany, UK, France, Poland and Russia. He said that uncooled flower loses 15 percent value on the daily basis.
Dr Muhammad Amjad said that majority of our country population was associated with the agriculture sector and poverty alleviation was directly linked to the sector. He lamented that farmers community had been using the traditional way of farming that is a hurdle to compete with the rest of the world.
He said that there was a scope for value addition in floriculture products through processing, packaging and supply chain management. This would increase the farm income, generate employment opportunities and help to reduce poverty, he added.
Director Institute of Horticulture Sciences Dr Aman Ullah said that the country lacks in the cold chain of the fruits, vegetables and flowers. He also called for promoting the processing and value chain. Dr Iftikhar Ahmad stressed upon the need to develop the industry as per international standards. It is the high time to explore marketing and adopt the new technology in the sector to boost up the economy. Theo Van Der Krogt, Kee Van Der Plas, from Netherland and Greenwork CEO Saleem Ahmad also spoke on the occasion.