Ghana garden and flower exhibition opens in Accra

The third Ghana Garden and Flower show opened in Accra on Thursday with a call on Ghanaians to attach importance to flower gardening.

Mrs Matilda Amissah Arthur, Second Lady, who made the call said it could help the country to create jobs and also become a foreign exchange earner.

Mrs Amissah Arthur, who chaired the function appealed to lovers of flowers to take a step further by embarking in the industry to keep Ghana green and beautiful.

She also encouraged Ghanaians to make a stop at the exhibition site, have fun, admire the various types of flowers and participate in the exhibition.

The five- day event is on the theme: “The World is Your Garden,” and it brought together an array of florist, horticulturalists, policy makers, home owners, garden lovers and real estate developers among others under one roof.

Other activities line up include, a jazz night on September 11, party in the park on September 12, together with a fashion extravaganza by a talented singer Adomaa, conference, workshop and business networking.

The show is being sponsored by Access Bank, Citi FM, Regimanuel Gray Estates, Lema Press, Unique Lifebuoy, UT Life, AFGRI, Indomie, Coco Cola Topp Core Security, Movempick Ambassadors hotel, Star Assurance, Nomadick Ghana Ltd, HFC Bank, DDP outdoor, koko king, Tropical cables, EDAIF, Polytank.

Mrs Esther Cobbah, Chief Executive Officer of Stratcomm Africa said horticulture and floriculture are providing livelihoods for many people in different parts of the world adding that for certain countries it’s a source of great national wealth citing examples from Kenya and Denmark.

The theme was chosen to enable “us to reflect on our individual roles in making our environment the garden it is meant to be, God in his own wisdom put man in the Garden of Eden, a lush and beautiful setting to flourish”.

Mrs Cobbah said: “We are all responsible for our environment and must constantly take care of it so it takes of us in return.

“When we fail to grow trees, plants, gardens, keep our environment free from filth, when we pile up garbage around us our lives are made poorer and we expose ourselves to extreme conditions and health and sanitation issues among others.”

Dolapu Ogundimu, Managing Director of Access Bank Ghana Limited said: “As we continue to build a sustainable franchise through our banking business here in Ghana, Access Bank is on its own demonstrating the commitment to going green.

“Internally our bank has in line with its environment and social risk policy, stepped up its going green initiative which requires that all activities carried out by the Bank should consider the impact on biodiversity, deforestation, and air and water pollution.”

He enjoined all to preserve Ghana’s environment by sustaining and endorsing garden and flower cultivation in the country.

Mr Ogundimu said a complete attitudinal change towards the environment is what is needed to transform the environmental landscape.

He said the fair is living up to its expectation by harnessing Ghana’s horticultural potential and exploring it as a tool for employment and income generation and urged people to take advantage of the business prospects that exist in the horticultural industry.

Dr Sally Kosgei, Managing Director Zena’s Roses Kenya and former Minister of Agriculture in Kenya said Kenya’s economy was once dependent on Agricultural especially tea but today horticulture is leading.

She said 40 per cent of flower sold in European countries come from Kenya.

She said flower growing is not very easy but needs a lot of patients because flowers are perishable and depends on how soon it gets to the consumer.

Tove Degnbol, Danish Ambassador, Mrs Amissah Arthur and Dr Sally Kosgei later cut the tape to open the exhibition.