BAR TODAY || Official Quarterly Publication of the Bureau of Agricultural Research

In Focus: a date with the "king of cut flowers"
by Mary Charlotte C. Fresco

October-December 2001
Volume 3 No. 4

The king we met in the highlands of Benguet is somewhat different for it doesn't have a sceptre or a crown to boast of, nor a kingdom surrounded by knights. It is a sprawling farm with myriads of splendid flowers in vibrant colors. What we are talking about is the King Louis Farm, dubbed as the "king of cut flowers" not only along the breadth of Baguio, but also across the country.

King Louis Farm General Manager and President Efren Chatto shows us the farm's poinsettia hybrids.

In the early 60's and 70's, no cutflower industry existed. Flowers growing was just a backyard and part time activity among individual farmers and flower enthusiasts. The establishment of King Louis Farm Inc. in 1983 was considered as the driving force for small entrepreneurs to consider cutflowers as a serious business. King Louis Farm General Manager and President Efren Chatto recalls that at that time when farmers were in search of an alternative business venture aside from vegetable production. King Louis Farm started with 4,000 square meters concentrating on producing quality chrysanthemum, roses, carnations, and gladioli. Few less-experienced contract growers and farmers who started with the conventional trial and error methods of production sustained and pioneered its early operation.

After years of experimenting and endless process of acquiring technical skills and knowledge, King Louis now operates on more than six hectares of specialized flower farms and has 40 active contract farmer-growers scattered in various locations in La Trinidad, Benguet. It has a labor force of about 120-150 workers, depending on the season.

"We assist them (contract growers) in constructing their greenhouses and provide them counter funds by linking them to cooperatives and federations engaged in cutflower production. We even had Landbank finance the construction of their greenhouses," added the very accommodating Mr. Chatto.

Even the varieties of cutflower King Louis Farm produces have grown extensively, including chrysanthemums, poinsettias, carnations, roses, liliums, gladioli, liatris, potted mums, kalanchoe, Impatients, and many more. The company is adopting modern farming technologies that are being used by other countries operating large cutflower farms. King Louis employs drip irrigation systems, sprinkler systems, supplementary lighting, large cold storage facilities, and refer vans.

In the early 90s, with its growing operations and number of wholesale consumers, King Louis Farm tried its luck in exporting cutflowers to Japan. "We had a hard time in meeting their standard of quality. Medyo mahirap pumasok sa quarantine nila. Second is the quality of flowers we produce. Our country's climate is not the best to produce high quality flowers that can compete globally. And the price in our local market is more competitive," he explained. The largest farm, which is devoted to rearing quality poinsettias, is simply exhilarating. Aside from the common red poinsettia, which most of us are familiar with, at King Louis there are three more exciting rare colors - white, pink and a combination of pink and red. They also have their own way of grading the poinsettias based on the size of the bracts. Poinsettias coded as B, C, and D command higher price. According to Mr. Chatto, this is done so that buyers are assured of uniform-sized plants. He added that during November to December, the peak season for ornamental plants, two to three large trucks go down to Manila everyday to deliver the plants.

In King Louis Farm, quality and strategy is the name of the game. "Quality flowers come from quality planting materials," he emphasized.

Mr. Chatto admitted that most of their planting materials especially for poinsettias and liliums are imported from countries such as the Netherlands, and America because our country lacks the facilities for storing bulbs for a long time to maintain their quality and viability. In order to assure uniform and quality flowers throughout the seasons, old planting materials are discarded. Selecting a strategic place for growing cutflower is also a major consideration according to Mr. Chatto.

"We try to locate our farms in areas na maganda ang gravity to ensure a stable water supply. Water is abundant during the rainy season, but we have a hard time during summer and we tend to rely on deep well which consumes a lot of energy and effort," he explained. Though King Louis Farm is concentrating its production for the local market, the farm is also engaged in producing Calla lily bulbs, particularly the colored varieties for export to Holland. Being an economist by profession and at one time bank manager for some years, Mr. Chatto claimed that management per se is not a major problem. "Mahirap kapag rainy season, it is too humid, kaya fungus ang karaniwang sakit ng halaman, yun ang major problem sa lahat ng halaman dito" he claimed. "What we do is we link with other big cutflower growers, at least they know the appropriate strategy to adopt. In return, we help them on technical aspects where they are not quite familiar with. Ganyan dapat talaga sa business, give and take minsan ng knowledge," Mr. Chatto wittingly expressed.

Mr. Chatto believes that King Louis Farm as a company has come a long way. At present, they are not only catering to the cutflower needs of Metro Manila and several points in Luzon, but are also supplying big flower shops in Bacolod and Cebu. For whatever strategies are behind this success, Mr. Chatto would not hesitate to share them with those who are willing to venture into the cutflower business.