HE the Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada with senior officials at the opening of Qafco’s Flower and Vegetable Show 2014 in Mesaieed yesterday. PICTURE: Shemeer Rasheed.

By Joey Aguilar

Staff Reporter

HE the Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada led the opening of the 27th edition of Qatar Fertiliser Company’s (Qafco) Flower and Vegetable Show in Mesaieed yesterday, citing the growing number of visitors and exhibits as a sign of the event’s success and increasing popularity. 

More than 14,000 people visited the show. There were 4,000 exhibits comprising 140 classes. And the number of competitors exceeded 400. 

The minister, together with Qafco and organising committee officials, toured the show which he described as an “established tradition of the company”. A total of 27 schools participated in the event with the theme focusing on environment protection and preservation.

“The increasing number of participants indicates that the show is getting more and more  popular,” said al-Sada while pointing out that the event’s success was not surprising given the track record of Qafco which produces more than 15% of the total traded urea worldwide.

Contestants from different levels had the chance to participate in over 90 categories. These included competitions in flowers, vegetables, fruits, and pot plant arrangements, vegetable and fruit carvings and butter carving. Students showcased their talent and creativity in a special category for schools in  junior and senior levels.

Professional and non-professional sculptors had gathered on stage at the newly-renovated Al-Banush Club for the live fruit, vegetable and ice carving competitions.

The graceful and sometimes violent strokes of the artists’ chisels turned fruits and vegetables into eye-catching sculptures of fish, falcons and swans.

Hamed al-Marwani, Qafco’s chief administration officer and chairman of the organising committee, told Gulf Times that 90%  of the participants were amateurs.

“The strength of this exhibition is built on the participation of the amateurs,” he stressed, noting that they also had a professional category.

He said the minister had asked them to look for possible ways to expand the show  after seeing the interest of many people.

“This year we have a huge participation from the schools,” he added.

In selecting the winners, organisers  invited independent judges, including some from the UK, according to Khalifa al-Sowaidi, Qafco vice-chairman and CEO.

He quoted one of the judges as saying  that the quality of the displays was comparable “or maybe better” than the shows in the UK.

Qafco has been involving its employees and their families as well as different expatriate communities in Qatar as part of its corporate social responsibility to protect the environment.

Besides flowers, thousands of visitors were impressed with the artistically-carved melons, pumpkins, butter and flour paste.

The show started 27 years ago in a room with 10 participants who were passionate about flowers, recalled Neelakantan Rajasekaran, head of Ammonia-4 at Qafco.