By JOE GURINA
THE floral industry has taken the grip on people venturing into floriculture activities after realizing its compelling economic potent it has.
It has evolved into a business environment, attracting people realizing with the benefits fetched from the markets.
It is a commodity and at currently finding its space in the economic circles.
Basically, floriculture commonly known as flower farming, is a branch of horticulture that is mainly to do with the cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens and floristry, comprising the floral industry.
There are economic benefits to it and people are now venturing in that space.
It is an international, multibillion dollar industry and can’t go wrong with people venturing into this industry.
Individuals and groups, mainly comprising of women folks around the country have formed Floriculture Associations to fetch potential markets in the floral industry.
The floral business has sprung through-out the country and there are potential number of enterprises nurturing in that development space.
Similarly, a floriculture association established in Central province is beginning to find its space in the floral industry.
Established in 2019, the Sogeri Floriculture Association has grown from strength and is fledging.
Founder and Director, Marget Ufa has seen the potential to promote the rich and diverse flora found in the plateau.
According to Ms Ufa, who is mixed parentage of Finschafen in Morobe and Koiairi in Central, the association has taken a leap in promoting its flora in various flora and market events in Port Moresby and other events in the province.
One of the highlights of the association according to her was taking part in the Central Province Agriculture Show in Kwikila in 2022.
This was the event that highlighted the association’s potential in the floral industry by the host of the event and former Governor of Central province, Robert Agarobe.
Another highlight was staging of the 3rd floriculture show in Sogeri towards the end of December, 2022, which attracted three male participants amongst women to showcase their potent in the floral industry.
At an altitude of over 2000 meters above sea level, floras ranging from diverse collections are flourished in the wild and backyards in the plateaus of Sogeri.
Women folks have turned into gardening flowers of different species after realizing the economic potential it will contribute to their household units.
Thus, it has taken some burden away from their usual harvest of garden produce to sell at markets.
Some of these flower gardeners are taking orders from customers in Port Moresby for occasions such as weddings, birthdays and other important activities.
A regular seller, Iomeri Nava, who owns stunning patches of flowering plants on the verge of Sirinumu Dam, admits she takes orders from her customers on decent pricing that is sufficient to cater for her household needs.
Otherwise, most of the time Nava and other women take their flowers to Gordon market every Friday with handsome returns fetched at the end of the day.
She said most customers that come to buy their flowers are Sabbath keepers (Seventh Day Adventist), who buy their flowers to decorate their Church for church service on Saturdays.
She added that other buyers are customers that have occasions to be held over the weekend.
She said they take home a handsome return sufficient enough to meet their house hold needs which is rewarding to compensate their time and effort in nurturing their flowering patches.
