Garden and Flower show opens in Accra
During the one-week event, on the theme ‘Dream it, discover it and live it’, the platform will give garden and flower lovers the opportunity to explore the benefits of the horticulture and floriculture industry in Ghana.
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At a colourful ceremony to open the show, Ms Esther A. N. Cobbah, Chief Executive Officer of Stratecomm Africa, organisers of the event, said it was her hope that the show would highlight how horticulture and floriculture could contribute to the attainment of the SDGs.
The goals, which have been adopted by the international community as the new framework for the global development agenda, focus on people, the planet, prosperity, peace and partnership.
Ms Cobbah expressed optimism that the show would help create attitudes that facilitated job creation, income and foreign exchange generation, environmental conservation and other wealth that horticulture and floriculture could provide.
“We believe there are so many untapped income opportunities that Ghana can tap from floriculture and horticulture instead of Ghana spending our limited foreign exchange on the importation of such products,” she said.
Tourism enclave
The schedule of events during the show includes a party in the garden, farmer’s market, fashion show, fitness and games, conference, workshops, jazz night and an awards night for operators in the industry.
The Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu Agyare, who chaired the function, used the opportunity to announce the rezoning of the 241.7-acre stretch of land from the Christainsborg Castle, near the Osu Klottey Lagoon, to the Culture Centre area in Accra for development as a tourism enclave.
The project, which is part of the development of the Marine Drive Tourism Investment Plan, she said, would lead to the provision of facilities such as hotels, restaurants, theatres, shopping malls, casinos and amusement parks.
“This is a massive tourism infrastructural development project and flower will feature prominently,” she added.
Malaysia
In a keynote address, the Malaysian High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Cheong Loon-Lai, said Ghana had a lot of potential in ecotourism, horticulture and floriculture industry, since Ghana was naturally endowed with the resources.
He said Malaysia, which was one of the leading foreign exchange earners in ecotourism, was ready to support Ghana to develop its potential.
In 2015, he said, Malaysia earned $15.5 billion from the ecotourism industry while about 25 million foreign tourists visited Malaysia.
Ghana, which gained independence in the same year as Malaysia, has virtually the same rich natural and human resources as Malaysia, and can therefore tap from such rich knowledge.
He expressed optimism that Ghana could become the preferred destination in West Africa when the horticulture, floriculture and ecotourism industries were developed.