Floriculture said to hold economic potential for Ghana
A former Agriculture Minister of Kenya, Dr Sally Kosgei has said gardening and flower cultivation hold potential for providing employment and generating economic activity and lie waiting to be tapped.
Dr Kosgei who is also a flower breeder and the Managing Director of Zena Roses Ltd, a Kenyan flower company, was speaking at the opening of the third Ghana Garden and Flower Show at the Afua Sutherland Park in Accra on Thursday.
She said the sector which raked in about $1 billion for Kenya in 2013, according to Kenya’s Central Bureau of Statistics, now rubs shoulders with Kenya’s traditional exchange-earning crops, sometimes generating more revenue than tea.
The Ghana garden and flower show organized by Strategic Communications Africa (Stratcomm-Africa), is an exhibition aimed at enhancing Ghana’s horticulture and floriculture industry and contributing to the country’s beautification.
In attendance at the opening of the third edition were the wife of the Vice President, Mrs Matilda Amissah-Arthur; the Minister of Education, Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang; Ms Tove Degnbol, the Danish Ambassador to Ghana; and ambassadors of Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Ms Esther Cobbah, the Chief Executive Officer of Stratcomm Africa, said the exhibition which will run from September 10 to 14, will this time, feature a jazz night in the park on Friday, and a conference and business networking session on the September 14, and on the final day, the first garden and flower awards will be held.
She also announced the sale of the second edition of Bloom Magazine, Ghana’s first horticultural magazine.
Speaking to ghanabusinessnews.com Patrick Masoperh, the Chief Executive Officer of HortServe, a floral and landscaping company that has been at the show since its inception, said this year’s garden and flower show looks promising as the show has gained more support and publicity than previous editions.
On exhibition and sale are ornamental plants, gardening tools and equipment, floriculture books, seeds, fertilizers and so on.
By Emmanuel Odonkor