Mallika Dureja
According to a Friday media report, the Nepali government has banned the import of fresh roses from nations such as India and China ahead of Valentine’s Day.
In a Thursday notification, the Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture instructed subordinate border offices not to provide import permits for rose blossoms due to the risk of plant diseases.
The he centre banned the import of rose blossoms citing exceptional grounds in a written directive to 15 customs offices on the borders of Nepal, India, and China. Valentine’s Day is annually observed on February 14.
The notification prohibits the importation of roses from Kakadbhitta in the east to Gadda Chowki in the west and any northern customs stations.
The notification stated, “All offices under the centre are requested not to provide rose flower import licences unless there is an alternative arrangement for specific circumstances.”
The Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Centre stated that the import has been temporarily halted owing to the risk of plant diseases.
The center’s information officer, Mahesh Chandra Acharya, stated that the import was immediately halted due to the likelihood of diseases and insects in the produce.
Issuing a notice, the Ministry of Agriculture has decided to stop the import of fresh rose flowers in the country until further notice.
Nepal Floriculture Association stated that there could be shortage of rose flowers in this Valentine’s Day.
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“It is evident that roses and other plants are prone to illness. “For the time being, imports have been halted because there has been no adequate research on these diseases,” Acharya explained.
Since the meeting of the technical committee has not yet occurred, further decisions will not be made until after the meeting, according to Acharya.
In the first six months of the current fiscal year, Nepal imported 10,612 kg of rose blossoms valued 1.3 million, as reported by the Customs Department.
Also read: Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas : Gifts for each day of Valentine’s week 2023
JB Tamang, the programme coordinator of the Nepal Floriculture Association (NFA), stated that the government’s action will now result in a rose shortage on the market.
According to the Nepal Flower Association, over 300,000 rose sticks are sold in Nepal around Valentine’s Day. He stated that approximately 20,000 rose blooms are created in Nepal.
According to traders, about 80 percent of the demand for red roses is met by imports, as reported by the Kathmandu Post.
On Valentine’s Day, the NFA reports that demand for long-stem red roses explodes to 150,000 stems.The majority of local flower producers can produce between 30,000 and 40,000 stems, while the remainder must be imported from India. Delhi, Bangalore, and Kolkata are Nepal’s leading suppliers of red roses.
