City holds first flower festival

CEBU, Philippines - The first ever flower festival in Cebu City kicked off yesterday morning through a parade of floats, decorated with varieties of flowers, from Fuente Osmeña to Plaza Sugbu.

Nine mountain barangays - Sirao, Malubog, Busay, Babag, Taptap, Pung-ol Sibugay, Bonbon, Guba, and Adlaon - participated in the parade.

Cebu City agriculturist Joselito Baclayon said that participating barangays are top producers of cutflower with an estimated 300 hectare-lands tilled for production.

There are 600 cutflower growers in the city.

Chrysanthemum and mums have the biggest production share of 70 percent among the flower produced in the city. Rose followed with 25 percent while gerbera, anthuriums and gladiola comprise the remaining five percent, Baclayon said.

Department of Agriculture-7 crops coordinator Nenita Seno said the festival will serve as venue to promote the cutflower industry in the city as well as an opportunity for small-scale producers to find their niche in the local and international market.

The festival will run for three days until November 20. Different activities are lined up for the celebration to include seminars on cutflower growing, business matching between local producers and buyers, float parade contest, booth display and flower arrangement.

Seminars, to be held at the Social Hall of the Cebu City Hall, are free and open to the public. Topics include cutflower production and post harvest practices, pest management, and trends in the cutflower industry, among others.

DA-7 said that it is extending technical assistance to stakeholders in the cutflower industry along with ube and peanut growers, though these crops do not belong to the top three commodities in the region.

Seno said that cutflowers or ornamentals are a flourishing industry in the region with a potential to be a top commodity in the future. – Jessica Ann R. Pareja/LPM   (FREEMAN NEWS)