K18,000 needed to host flower show

ORGANISERS need K18,000 as preparations get underway to host the 2nd floriculture show in Port Moresby next month.
PNG Cut Flowers Association representative Mary Saun said the show, from Sept 14-17, was expected to attract more than 30 participants compared with 21 last year with backyard flower farmers travelling from as far as Lae, Goroka, Kokopo, Kiunga and East Sepik.
“We need about K18,000 to host the flower show.
“The money would assist with expenses including hire of venue, banner and this year, as an incentive for participating flower farmers, we intend to present prizes for a competition we are in the process of planning,” Saun said.
She added that this year’s show was expected to be bigger with a variety of programmes planned, including quality training on nurturing, grading and demonstration of floral arrangements.
“There is high demand for farmers to market cut flowers but many lack the quality needed to sell highly graded cut flowers.
“When I say quality, I refer to the farmer understanding when to cut their flowers, how to arrange these flowers and how to grade the flowers,” Saun said.
She also stressed that PNG was not ready to join its neighbouring Pacific Island countries to export flowers like Hawaii where its floriculture industry was second to its tourism industry.
“No where is PNG ready for export. The industry itself has the potential to generate about K40 billion for our country, but we need to firstly make sure the product we sell is quality.
“I emphasise the need to train our farmers on quality before we can start exporting to overseas clients,” Saun said.