8 minute read
Dutch Floriculture
COOPERATION IN HORTICULTURE BETWEEN THE UAE AND THE NETHERLANDS
The United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands are cooperating in innovation of the Horticultural sector. Introduction of high tech systems in horticulture, will lead to more local production in the UAE in line with the UAE’s National Food Security Strategy. Both domestic production and secure, stable imports of food have become top priority on the UAE’s agenda. In addition to the aim of establishing the country as a world leading hub in innovation.
Due to the enormous tourism sector, Dubai is an interesting market for the Netherlands in term of floriculture. The UAE wants to stimulate its own production and therefore stimulates investments in the horticulture sector which many investors looking to use the Dutch technologies.
The Dutch horticulture technologies and practices can make a significant contribution to making the Gulf Region more self-sufficient in different sectors including horticulture.
The Netherlands is the largest flower producing country in the world with about 68% contribution of the annual flower production. The Netherlands is known as the country of world’s beautiful flowers. It is world famous for its wide fields of tulips with wonderful colors. Around 2 billion of these tulips are exported to many countries worldwide. The United Arab Emirates could soon be known for its roses. Since last February, three million roses have been exported from Advanced Horticulture's farm - just outside Al Hayer, which is about halfway between Dubai and Al Ain - to Holland.
The Netherlands floriculture market is projected to register a CAGR of 4.7% during the forecast period (2021-2026). Floriculture is one of the lucrative industry in Netherlands. Spring is usually the busiest time of year at the Aalsmeer Flower Auction in the Netherlands, the world's blossom trade capital. For the Netherlands, flowers are a major industry. Roughly 60% of the country is devoted to agriculture or horticulture, and the multi-billion-euro flower industry accounts for 10% of its Gross Domestic Product. The flower market in the Netherlands is a dynamic, fast-growing global industry, defined by three major
components, growers, wholesalers, and retailers.
The United Arab Emirates prefer to import Dutch flowers because the Netherlands is the main hub for international floral trade. The Netherlands import flowers from different countries (Ecuador, Ethiopia, Kenya, and others). This is why some Dutch flower exporters can sell any flower available and this attracts foreign flower wholesalers and flower shop.
Flowers are one of the main export products in the Netherlands and especially tulips and roses. The most important countries who import Dutch flowers and plants are Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Russia. But also a lot of other countries in the world import their flowers from Holland.
Why the Netherlands is the perfect country for tulip growing? The soil in the polders is continuously drained, creating perfect growing conditions for tulip bulbs, which love well drained but moist soil.
However, The COVID-19 pandemic has plunged the world’s largest flower auction on the outskirts of Amsterdam into chaos. The cut flower sales volume in the auction has been decreased to 595, 064 thousands and 557,436 thousands in March, and April 2020 respectively than 762,513 thousands and 695,516 thousands in 2019 of the same period respectively.
In 2019, the Netherlands export accounted for 47.9% of the global exports in the cut flower segment and ranked 1st in the same year. In 2020, the Netherlands exported 551,098 metric ton of cut flowers valued at USD 4,260,31 thousand. Thus, the increased demand for cut flowers globally is driving the export market in the Netherlands.
There is a huge potential for export of floriculture products and is long term driving force, given it adopts improved production technologies. Therefore, the attractive growth in export market is anticipated to influence the significant market growth over the forecast period.
Among the cut flowers, rose accounted for a significant share of the market followed by Chrysanthemum. The largest segment in Netherland is Rosa. This is due to the increased demand from peak days and the adoption of new technologies, the roses production in the country is increasing which is anticipated to boost the growth of the floriculture market during the forecast period.
The Netherlands Floriculture market is segmented by Type of Flower (Rosa, Tulip, Chrysanthemum, Gerbera, Freesia, Lily, Orchids, Nursery Stocks, Other Types of Flowers). The market offers market size in USD million in terms of value and thousand metric ton in terms of volume.
The roses are widely grown in greenhouses with LED lighting to produce top quality roses with improved yield. The sustainable and organic production is a key focus point of growers as it is highly preferred by the consumers.
The rose production in the Netherlands increased from about 1,127,309 thousand euros in 2017 to 1,137,892 thousand euros in 2020. This suggests the bolstering market of roses in the Netherlands.
UAE cut flower market witnessed significant growth in 2019 owing to growth in hospitality and event sectors. A $163 million fund was launched by the Department of Culture and Tourism to enhance Abu Dhabi’s portfolio of leisure and business events. This mega fund was a part of Ghadan 21 program to accelerate Abu Dhabi’s Economy.
The UAE cut flower market size is projected to grow at a CAGR of 13.3% during 20212027. The government has established Dubai Flower Center as an economic zone with an aim of offering tax concessions and customs duty benefits to the expatriate investors and thus facilitating floriculture industry in the country. To attract investments from expatriate, government is allowing complete foreign ownership, no currency restrictions, 100% import & export tax exemption, 100% repatriation of capital, and profits and others benefits for people setting up business in DFC. Increasing government investment in floriculture industry would augment cut flower market in the country.
Don’t miss the opportunity to visit the biggest Flower Show and Flower Carnival event to be held in November 2022 in Abu Dhabi organized by Motion International Exhibition. For more information about this show, visit www.motion-int.com.
Erik Smidt
Agricultural Counsellor for the GCC - Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
THE VARIOUS VENTILATION OPTIONS FOR POULTRY HOUSES
Basically, you have the choice between two ventilation principles in poultry farming: natural and mechanical.
Natural ventilation
One advantage of natural ventilation is the low investment due to the use of natural resources and simple installation. Natural ventilation is based on the chimney effect. Warm air rises and disappears through an opening in the roof ("chimney"). This creates a slight negative pressure in the stable and fresh air is sucked in through inlet openings on the side (those with flaps or curtains opened or closed). Systems based on natural ventilation have, however, become less popular due to the disadvantages of manual control and limited capacity.
Mechanical ventilation
The required air exchange or temperature change is not always sufficient with natural ventilation. This can be regulated much more accurately and easily with the help of mechanical ventilation. Fans provide much more certainty about the amount of displaced air.
With mechanical ventilation, the air can be extracted by fans, blown in, or a combination of both. In those cases, we speak of ventilation on negative pressure, positive pressure or equal pressure.
Ventilation based on negative pressure is by far the most common. But with all
sorts of alternative housing systems, in which the chickens regularly have to go outside, the demand for other ventilation systems is also increasing, in particular the demand for equal pressure ventilation. With this system, direct flow over the animals through the hatches is prevented.
Mechanical ventilation for poultry barns is available in a variety of forms. Below is a brief description of some common systems: ridge ventilation, length ventilation, tunnel ventilation and cross ventilation. Combinations of these systems are also possible, such as length and ridge ventilation, or length and tunnel ventilation.
Ridge ventilation
With ridge ventilation, the fans are mounted in ducts that are placed in the ridge of the roof. The air inlets are then incorporated in the side walls. Ridge ventilation is generally only used for minimum ventilation.
Length ventilation
With length ventilation, the fans are in the end wall and the air inlets in the side walls. By further increasing or decreasing the speed of fans and opening or closing the air inlets, a wide range of air exchange is possible.
Tunnel ventilation
For maximum ventilation, tunnel ventilation is often used where the inlets are mounted in the end façade and the fans in the opposite end façade. This makes it possible to blow the air through the house at high speed during very hot days. The high speed provides a wind chill effect, which gives the chickens a pleasant-feeling temperature.
Cross ventilation
For cross ventilation, the fans are placed in a side wall. The inlets are positioned in the opposite side wall. Because the distance from inlet to fan is short, it becomes possible to exchange the air in a house at a very low speed. This system is suitable for moving both a little and a lot of air.
Fans
When choosing the type of fans used in poultry houses, i.e. the ‘hardware’ of the ventilation system, it is important to consider the following: • the durability and reliability of the fans • the suitability for intensive use • the controllability • the resistance to aggressive conditions
Multifan Galvanized Box Fans are highly reliable and thanks to their aerodynamic design, these fans combine high air output with low energy consumption. The box of the fan makes it easy to position the fan in a wall, and to equip your fan with add-ons such as a shutter. In addition, the Galvanized Box Fan can also be combined with light traps or air filters.
All Multifan fans are developed and made in-house in the Netherlands.
