Ralph Emerson, the great American essayist, once said, "Earth laughs in Flowers," and this is true for all other major economies in the world, as their per capita Flower consumption is high and gradually increasing year by year. If we speak about India, "India barely smiles in Flowers." The per capita flower consumption of India is not even amongst the top 10 countries in the world in spite of being the second most populated nation! The Floriculture industry is still very much limited to Big Fat weddings or government events/functions. Flower consumption on day to day basis is not happening, and on top of it, a major threat is posed by artificial Flowers to our farmers and the sector! In the five years, because of the rampant use of Artificial Flowers, the Floriculture sector has been under pressure and facing a sustainability crisis.
Grower's Flower Council of India (GFCI), having the sole objective of promoting daily flower usage in our life, has taken up the battle against the use of artificial flowers. To convey this message loudly to all the government authorities, policymakers, and citizens of the country; recently, during the 16th Flora Expo exhibition organized by Media Today group in Delhi, GFCI (along with the support of the Floriculture industry stalwarts) organized a bicycle rally to create the awareness about using fresh flowers in their daily life.
The rally, branded as "Blooming Ride," was organized on 7th January, and over 75 citizens across Delhi actively participated in the event. The event kicked off with the inaugural speech of Mr. Kishore Rajhans (advisor member of GFCI & Director of KF Bioplants), Mr. Srikanth Bollapally ( President-GFCI), Mr. Dhananjay Kadam ( GM-GFCI), Mr. M. B. Naqvi ( Director- GFCI and exhibition organizer), Mr. Jafar Naqvi (Secretary GFCI), Mr. Sashi Kiran (Director GFCI), Mr. Bhavin Thakkar (member GFCI) and Mr. Ashish Phadke (GM Marketing KF Bioplants). The 20km long cycle ride was organized from the NSIC complex to Central Delhi and back. Mr. Neeraj Prajapati, the bicycle man of India, lead the cycle ride and support our noble cause for the benefit of our farmers.
"Our vision, mission, and goal are to establish a sustainable floriculture industry in the country and help our farmers. GFCI and Floriculture industry members intend to do many such events across the country for the promotion of flowers to ban the use of artificial flowers. The GFCI appreciates all the participants, organizers, and exhibitors for making this "Blooming Ride" a grand success. We request all our readers to spread this article on all social media platforms and raise awareness about this issue to help our growers." Here are some more images from the event.
For more information:
Flower Council of India
gfcindia.org