Floriculture can improve women’s life, says Salhoutuonuo Kruse

KOHIMA: Ahead of Mother’s Day, an exhibition and sale of flowers began on Thursday at The Heritage, Kohima.

The exhibition, organised by the Nagaland Flower Growers’ Society (NFGS), will culminate on Saturday.

Minister of Women Resource Development and Horticulture, Salhoutuonuo Kruse, inaugurating the exhibition, said the most important thing about growing flowers is giving women a source of income and improving their life and dignity.

‘Not every woman is fortunate to have an education nor will everyone get government jobs and it is important for them to have some earnings of their own,’ she said.

She also requested the members of the society to work harder and train more women so that they can start planting at home and earn something out of it. She requested them to work together with the department.

Advisor of NFGS and wife of Nagaland chief minister, Kaisa Rio, said floriculture will be given a new impetus considering the huge potential in the market.

She added that the market is big not only in the state but in the neighbouring states and across the country. In this regard, she opined that floriculture will make a big impact on the economy.

Kaisa, who was also the first president of NGFS, said that growing flowers comes with many hurdles and challenges but also brings joy and happiness once it grows and blossoms.

‘Growing flowers needs a lot of hard work, patience, and commitment,’ she added.

She said that floriculture, as a profession, has a lot of potential and encouraged flower growers to be consistent in their work in order to make the Nagaland story a success.

‘Flowers will not fail us if we provide the right nurturing and care’, she added.

President of NFGS, Sungtinaro Jamir said that the flower symbolises ‘love and peace and it brings so much joy into people’s lives. They are a medium to convey one’s emotion and occupy a special place in one’s life’.

Jamir said she had been growing flowers for a long time but commercialising it was a “new thing back then” and it was challenging for the members.

Today, she said she is proud to see so many women taking up planting and growing flowers as a profession. The members comprise women who are young, middle-aged, senior citizens, and widows, who are earning and supporting the family as well as generating jobs for others.

‘The objective of the society is to promote flowers and foliage at all levels. Members actively took part in organising exhibitions and keenly participated. They also took part in floral arranging competitions in the national arena and achieved laurels,’ she shared.

Watienla Jamir, Rtd. Director of Horticulture, called upon the flower growers to try to expand and evolve, embrace new ideas and techniques and help the flower industry flourish and be profitable to the growers.

The Horticulture department provided high tech green houses along with quality planting materials from international firms to the growers. Besides that, training, workshops and seminars were provided to the flower growers.

A total of 24 stalls with over 30 participants exhibited different types of flowers.

Founded in 2006, the NFGS is a registered society and has over 30 members today.