India's first ifab launched in Bangalore

Bangalore, Dec 5: A new flower auction centre has been established in the city to help provide a level playing field for both growers and buyers trading in quality flowers for export and domestic markets.

The centre, set up by International Flower Auction Bangalore Ltd (IFAB), by company chairman and Additional Chief Secretary Chairman Sudhakar Rao.

He said IFAB, a joint venture between the state government and the growers, hopes to attract buyers from neighbouring countries like Singapore and Middle East. Flowers auctioned at IFAB would reach almost all corners of the country and the aim was to make them reach all corners of the world in the years to come, he said.

Mr Rao said Karnataka, the leading producer of ornamental flowers, was regarded as a progressive state of floriculture development with more than 20,000 hectare under cultivation of various types of flowers.

The global floriculture industry was growing at a rapid pace and with the favourable agro climate conditions now, IFAB was bound to become a significant player in the world market. It would be playing an important role in offering quality flowers for foreign as well as domestic market which was growing at an equally fast pace, he said.

He said that IFAB centre, built at a cost of Rs ten crore, was centrally located and near the International Airport. It is the third such centre in the country and the largest flower auction centre in Asia. The other two were in Mumbai and Noida.

The state government, to tap the available floriculture potential in the global market, had decided to run a flower auction centre with the state and South Indian Floriculture Association as main share holders back in 2002, he said.

The traditional flower growing activity in the state has now lead to the introduction of high tech cultivation of cut flowers like Dutch Roses, Carnation, Gerbara and Anthurium under the Green Houses, he said.

Due to favourable weather conditions prevailing in the state, especially in Bangalore rural and urban districts, floriculture under the Green House technology had been established well to emerge as the leading export pocket of floriculture in the country, he said.

UNI