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8 Editorial v Cover Story 13 Kenyan Floriculture: Indian Hands Rising! — M.B. Naqvi 14 Private players are responsible for booming Kenyan Floriculture — Nizar Jundre, General Manager, Black Petals Limited, Kenya 20 Kenyan growers are increasing their basket-size to sustain — Kakasaheb Jagtap 26 Most Investors and Farm managers come from India — Han Hendrikse, Sales & Cultivation Specialist, Terra Nigra
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30 Jumbo-size farms taking Kenyan floriculture to industrial level — Vijay M. Bhosale, General Manager, Olij Kenya breeding Ltd v Cut Flower 32 Alstroemeria: An eco-friendly flower crop — B. Sravan kumar, Dr. P. Lalitha kameswari, Dr. M. Pratap v Bedding Flower 38 Bedding Flowers: An aesthetic side of Floriculture — Hemlata Bharti, Mam C Singh and Krishan P Singh v Ornamental 48 Asparagus: Versatile ornamental foliage filler with multiple uses — M. Kannan, P. Ranchana, M. Jawaharlal and S. Vinodh v Interview 54 Flower Accessories business is doing well — Ajay Barua, Proprietor, Barua Flowers & Barua Accessories v Dry Flower 56 A Perfect & Everlasting Substitute for Novelty of Fresh Flowers — U. Sudha, Dr. R. Chandrasekhar & Shivani Sharma v Event Report 62 Focus on South American Greenhouses 6
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Floriculture Today
www.floriculturetoday.in
Chief Editor: S Jafar Naqvi
Editorial...
Consulting Editors T.V. Satyanarayanan Vijay Sardana Chief Coordinator: M.B. Naqvi Editorial Coordinator: Syed M K
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horn-less rose is no more in the domain of dreamland. It has become a practical reality, thanks to research efforts. Although some thorn-less floribunda type roses are available in the world, as also one Dutch variety among cut flowers, it is for the first time in India that a team of scientists has developed a thorn-less marvel for commercial exploitation as a cut flower. The scientists, belonging to the Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), at Palampur in Himachal Pradesh, have appropriately named this rose Himalayan Wonder. Deep redand- purple in colour, it is drawing enquiries from rose growers in Pune and Bangalore. According to IHBT Director Dr P S Ahuja, the nearest rival to this cut flower category rose is Grand Gala, developed in the Netherlands. But Himalayan Wonder claims superiority to its Dutch counterpart because of sturdier stem, absence of leaf close to the flower and better shelf life. With an average flowering shoot length of 78 cm and flower size of 10 cm, Himalayan Wonder is grown in profusion in the institute’s polyhouses. It all started five years ago when Dr Singh was conducting some other experiments in the field. His eyes fell on this unusual type, which is a cultivar of a popular variety First Red. It was isolated to see whether it could maintain the thorn-less trait. After prolonged study, when the institute scientists found that the isolated plant did not revert to its thorny state, they thought it was time to give it a new name. This rose is now grown at a height of 4200 feet, and the scientists hope it would sustain its colour, strength of stalk and other characteristics when grown in lower elevations as well. For rose lovers and growers, the novelty of rose without thorn is probably as exciting as the development of a genetically engineered blue rose, a few years ago. Blue rose, scientists explain, is a flower of the genus Rosa that presents blue-to-violet pigmentation, instead of the more common red, white or yellow. Florigene Ltd and Suntory Ltd developed blue coloured flower by employing a three-gene package – pansy delphinidin, iris DFR and antirose DFR. There is no blue rose naturally since the rose plant is incapable of synthesizing delphinidin. In India, pioneering research in floriculture started in late 50’s in Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) under the leadership of luminaries like Dr B P Pal. Now there are many institutes and organizations conducting multi-disciplinary and area specific research on ornamental crops. Of late, commercial floriculture is increasingly being regarded in this country as a viable diversification from the traditional field crops like food grains because of higher returns per unit area and growing demand for flowers in the domestic and export markets. India’s strengths in this sector include enormous genetic diversity, varied agro-climatic conditions and availability of skilled manpower. No wonder, for the last few years, commercial floriculture has been making rapid strides in the India. According to latest official figures, this activity covered an area 0.25 million hectares in 2011-12, with a production 1.74 million tonnes of loose flowers and 7505 million number of cut flowers. International exhibitions and conferences like Flora Expo and Landscape & Gardening expo series – and now Flora Tech India – have all contributed their mite to engender interest and enthusiasm among growers, traders and consumers. Comments are welcome at: MediaTodayMails@gmail.com Views expressed by individuals and contributors in the magazine are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Floriculture Today editorial board. Floriculture Today does not accept any responsibility of any direct, indirect or consequential damage caused to any party due to views expressed by any one or more persons in the trade. All disputes are to be referred to Delhi Jurisdiction only. .....Editor
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Cover Story
Kenyan Floriculture
Indian Hands Rising! — M.B. Naqvi
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recently visited Kenya, and met several growers to provide the readers of Floriculture Today the first-hand knowledge about Kenyan floriculture, its booming rose trade, and why most of farm managers are Indians. Kenya has a lot of Indian managers, not only in floriculture but other horticultural crops, dairy, construction and input supply segments. They are positively contributing to the dazzling floriculture and agri-economy success story of Kenya. In general, they are getting good packages and perks yet there is a perceptive sign of homesickness and concerns like children’s education and back home problems. The success stories of few Indian growers become the role model for the current crop of Indian farm managers as they too visualize themselves as future farm owners in Kenya. Unlike India, the advantage of Kenyan floriculture is that there is hardly any labour migration and major components helping the growth of this industry depend on strong CSR provided by investors in the form of food, education, health, transportation, and in few cases Fairtrade practices. Fairtrade farms have superior conditions in comparison with non Fairtrade farms. The workers on the Fairtrade farms are empowered by knowing about their rights. There are 3-4 Indian input suppliers of fertilizers and pesticides in Kenyan horticulture segment. Most of the greenhouses are from Europe and Israel. Recently, one of the companies from Pune in collaboration with a Dutch company entered the markets and supplied greenhouses to Indian Kenyan growers.
I felt that these managers genuinely need some kind of grouping centre like a club where they can meet on regular basis and feel like home. As Nizar Jundre, General Manager, Black Petals Limited, Kenya, said, “We discuss trade issues and technical problems with each almost regular basis but on phone”. The Kenyan cut flower industry dates from the late 1960s but it wasn’t until the 1990s that investment transformed it into a major player in the international market. With an annual growth rate of 20%, the cut flower industry is among the fastest growing sectors of the Kenyan economy and, with revenues of more than $250m a year, it is Kenya’s second largest agricultural foreign exchange earner after tea. Kenya is now the biggest rose exporter in the world. Thirty per cent of all Kenyan flowers are exported to the UK. Kenya also supplies 25% of cut flowers sold in the EU. While it is estimated that there are 5,000 flower farms in Kenya, 75% of exports are supplied by 25 large- and medium-scale companies.
With more than half of Kenya’s population of 37 million living in poverty, the cut flower industry plays an important role in providing employment and alleviating poverty. Around 55,000 people, mainly young women, are directly employed in the industry, while 2 million people indirectly depend on the flower industry for their livelihoods. Since Kenya is the fastest growing rose producing country in the world, overseas companies are investing here to increase their market share and presence. There are vast stretches of available land, good climate, cheap labour and easy connectivity to overseas markets. All this makes Kenya attractive to top flowerbreeders. Even Russian growers are interested in Kenya. Since growers need the finest quality roses, they think they need to focus on Kenya which is the most suitable country to grow roses. The overall size of greenhouse is expected to increase from the current 2,400 to 3,000 hectares in the coming four years as new investors are landing here to invest in floriculture. n
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Cover Story
Private players
are responsible for booming
Kenyan Floriculture — Nizar Jundre, General Manager, Black Petals Limited, Kenya
Black Petals, Kenya, a vertical of Mr. Ehiya M owned Black Tulip Group LLC, UAE, is looking after production of flowers in Kenya. Its 75% produce goes to its parent company in UAE while the rest is sold to local players. Its General Manager Nizar Jundre, who studied and worked in Pune, started his floriculture career with companies like KF Bioplants looking after tissue culture, gerbera, Banana, etc. from 1993 to 2000 before shifting to Kenya. In an interview with M.B. Naqvi, Chief Coordinator, Floriculture Today, he talks about Kenyan floriculture, his company’s activities, and why Indian managers are leaving for Kenya, among other things. Excerpts:
What is the current status of Kenyan floriculture? Did recession of 2008-09 affect the growth rate? Since I came here 13 years ago, I have been seeing expansion in floriculture projects on an average of 70-150 hectares per year. Recession of 2008 checked expansion a little bit until 2010. After that, it again picked up the pace and some of the groups are investing heavily in floriculture projects here. Overall, the floriculture in Kenya is booming!
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Kenya is known for growing roses. So what is the percentage of roses versus other flowers? Around 80-85% areas are used for growing roses as climate is very suitable for it. Carnation, lilium and gypsophila are other floriculture products grown here in summer. What is total greenhouse area in Kenya and do growers use climate-controlled structures? It is around 2,200 hectares. Most
of them are not climate controlled greenhouses. They are basic greenhouses that stop sunlight, rain & wind, etc. Can you comment on Europeans’ role in Kenyan floriculture and what is the percentage of Indians working in Kenyan floriculture? If I may say it will not be incorrect that we learned about the flowers growing technology from Europeans initially in India in 90’s, Europeans came here to invest in floriculture. But then,
Cover Story the productivity was average. After 1996, Indian managers started coming here, and post 2000 the arrival rate grew considerably. Their hard work, and the way of managing farm economics enhanced production and saved costs thus taking the industry forward. Now, around 60-70 per cent farms have Indians as managers (general managers, farm managers, Production Managers etc). What is driving Indian managers to migrate to African flower-growing countries? Indian mangers are leaving India for greener pastures as they get attractive pay package (3-4 times more) along with other benefits here. So you can say it is money, exposure to business and ambition. What roles are these managers playing? There are General Managers, Production managers and other types of managers. A general manger may handle both technical parts and well as may look after administrative responsibilities. So for a general manager, it is a comprehensive role covering all aspects from production to exports. He is helped by other managers like HR manger, account manger, marketing manger, export manger, etc. Some of the Indian managers became entrepreneurs and set up their own production units in Kenya. What are your views on the progress of this new breed of producers? Some of the managers who came here earlier have started their own production units. Mr. Sharad Patil and Mr. Kori are prominent among them who made it big here. They started ‘Maua Limited’. Initially, they were engaged in rose propagation before doing full fledged production. Now 22 hectares are owned by Indian producers. Mr. Ashutosh Mishra who started ‘Shades Limited’ is another prominent player who started with 6 hectares. Now he has added another 8 hectares. What is the climatic condition in Kenya and how helpful it is for floriculture
Tanzania is not a big player. It has just around 200-300 hectares under floriculture. As its altitude is not higher, its flower quality cannot match that of Kenyan flowers which are grown on high altitude. Ethiopia witnessed a big boom few years back, and many European investors invested there in floriculture. But there too, government support is negligible. Heavy rain for four months in a year creates diseases for flowers there. So, it is the climatic condition that puts Kenya at the top among all flower-growing countries in Africa crops? Kenya is a country of temperature variation at short distances. What you see in Nairobi will not be the same 20 km away. So it is a diversified temperate zone. In and around our farms, the day temperature is around 23-25 degree Celsius and the night time temperature is around 9-10 degree. Rain pattern has changed here in the last few years. On an average it is 1000-1200 mm annually. Long rain season falls in March-April
while short rain season remains in October-November. Of course, rain is required for floriculture but constant raining is not good. The change in climate is a global phenomenon due to widespread deforestation and global warming. Kenyan government has recently taken some steps to check deforestation. In Kenya, the climate is favourable to the flowers except for the duration between December and February. This is
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Cover Story summer time when temperature reaches over 30-35 degree, and growers use things like fogging to keep the crops cool. What is the government support to floriculture industry? Does it give some special status to floriculture industry? Although the government does not provide subsidy, it is supporting growers in other ways mainly by facilitating trade through the provision of incentives in the form of nil or reduced duties and other taxes on imported inputs crucial to the sector e.g. greenhouses, greenhouse covers, dam construction lining shade netting, refrigeration equipment for cooling and cold stores, etc. For some years, govt. has become serious as floriculture industry is the third biggest foreign exchange-earner in Kenya. It is only the private investment that has taken this industry to this far. Please comment on bank loans, interest rates and labour laws in Kenya. Banks do provide loans at 12-18% interest rate. Talking about labour laws,
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I can say there is not much difference between India and Kenya. Producers take good care of labourers and the wages are affordable. But unlike India which has the problem of fragmented landholdings, here we see large farmlands, most of them the size of thousand of hectares. Companies investing in floriculture can own quite large pieces of land. As you said there is not much automation on production side, but do growers use automation at post-harvest stage? Like India, here too, growers mostly depend on manual way of floriculture. Harvesting is done manually. Automation includes fertigation, spraying, etc. Even at postharvesting stage, grading, packing, etc are done manually. Since, in European countries, manpower is expensive, they depend more on automation. In Kenya, manpower is not expensive, so growers depend on human hands and this is good as flowers are fragile products to be handled with care.
Whom do you sell your flowers to? Around 75% of Black Petals’ produce goes to its parent company—Black Tulip LLC—UAE, through our own channel. The rest is sold to local exporters who send it to EU markets. Can you comment on other African competitors like Ethiopia and Tanzania, and what are the emerging trends in African flower-growing countries? Tanzania is not a big player. It has just around 200-300 hectares under floriculture. As its altitude is not higher, its flower quality cannot match that of Kenyan flowers which are grown on high altitude. Ethiopia witnessed a big boom few years back, and many European investors invested there in floriculture. But there too, government support is negligible. Heavy rain for four months in a year creates diseases for flowers there. So, it is the climatic condition that puts Kenya at the top among all flowergrowing countries in Africa. n
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Cover Story
Kenyan growers
are increasing their basket-size
to sustain
— Kakasaheb Jagtap, General Manager, Bigot Flowers Kenya Limited
Floriculture Today 20 August 2013
Jagtap Kakasaheb, General Manager, Bigot Flowers Kenya Limited (French company which was established in 1958 in France, and in Kenya in 2004) did his graduation and post-graduation from Agriculture Collage Pune, and joined Maharashtra’s floriculture industry in 1999 working with Srivardhan Biotech at Kolhapur. Then, he shifted to Kenya as a production manager in 2003. The man, who takes pride in growing flowers, talks with Floriculture Today about his experience in Kenya, and why it is no.1 player in rose production. Excerpts:
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