International Flora Expo 2007 Award For Sikkim Pavilion

GANGTOK, Sept. 17: Sikkim bagged the best pavilion award in Cymbidium Orchid in the International Flora Expo 2007 held at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi recently. Sikkim is known as the Kingdom of Orchid.“We feel proud of Sikkim's achievement and we have realised that it has a bright future in floriculture” said Mr Somnath Poudyal, the state minister for Agriculture and Horticulture. “We also want that Sikkim should be in the forefront in floriculture and the government is focusing on organic farming," Mr Poudyal added. Uttarkhand and Himachal Pradesh have also bagged best floral awardJapan, Korea and Africa also participated in the show. Sikkim's main focus was on cymbidium orchids, rose, alstroemeria, anthurium and lilium. “We have distributed 5,00,000 seedlings in all the villages. Now we are focusing on marketing strategies,” said Mr Poudyal. We had already bought our outlet centre from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in New Delhi, and by the next month it would be ready to showcase our flowers,” he added.The mega event had a large number of floriculturists, flower importers and exporters, traders, investors, scientists and researchers who participated whole heartedly. “There were around 200 stalls, which included some big global players and a host of floriculture related product manufacturers,” said Mr Poudyal. “We are already focusing on quality planting materials, and we are importing flowers from Korea and Thailand for it. So now, we are looking forward to the foreign companies for investment, he added. “This is indeed a new milestone towards becoming a floriculture state in the country. We are planning for international flower show in March, next year” Mr Poudyal said. “We have already invited buyers and investors for the show and have planned to have workshop on it," he added.