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

Prospects for the ornamental industry in the new millennium
by Thea Kristina M. Pabuyon

October-December 2001
Volume 3 No. 4

"Where flowers bloom so does hope." -L. B. Johnson-

This adage holds true for the more than 10,000 farmers engaged in the country's ornamental business. This industry has come a long way from being a backyard activity or hobby to being one of the country's more promising industries, bringing in millions of pesos in export and local trade earnings.

While the industry is surviving, it is not exactly thriving. Much has yet to be done and be addressed to truly make it bloom and flourish.

The Philippine ornamental industry produces cutflowers, cut and potted foliage, flowering pot plants and landscaping materials, and dried and processed ornamentals. Among these products, cutflowers seem to attract the most attention among researchers and producers alike, evident from the numerous data pertaining to their production and potential.

Initially, the area planted to ornamentals is small - only a total of 942 ha in1993. In the same year, 10 million dozens of cutflowers valued at P1 billion were produced. Likewise, a survey of different nurseries reported that more than 60% of the products consisted of potted foliage, flowering pot plants, and landscaping materials.

The cutflower industry is strong in the local markets, which comprise about 99% of the total demand for the commodity. Tagged as one of the country's sunshine industries, it enjoys a high demand especially during the peak months of January, February, May, October, November and December, with orchids, chrysanthemums, gladiola, anthurium, aster and rose as the most popular. This demand volume is expected to swell even more in the coming years owing to the increasing number of middle and high income classes, changing consumer preferences, and growth of tourism. However, local producers cannot cope with the increased demand during peak seasons, prompting them to import 30% of the total demand supply. From 1995-1999, the Philippines imported 1,858 metric tons of cutflower at $9 million. Majority of the imports were live plants, cuttings and slips (35%) mainly from Israel (35%), fresh cutflower and flower buds (28%) and orchids (14%) mainly from Thailand, and bulbs and tubers (7%) mainly from the Netherlands.

The fall in the country's cutflower supply was particularly evident from 1995-1999 when a negative growth rate of 11% per year was recorded. Only 56,964 metric tons was produced for the whole period, with a yearly average of only 14,241 metric tons. Although cutflower production does not require huge areas of land, the drop in production from 1995-1999 can be partially attributed to the decreasing area planted to it. From1995, land cultivated to cutflowers dipped from 1,284 ha to only 1,056 ha in 1999. With 34% of the area devoted to it, gladioli was the highest yielding cutflower for that period at 205.12 mt per hectare per year followed by orchids at 178.54 mt/ha, and baby's breath at 137.63 mt/ha.

Except for cut foliage, the demand for the remaining two product lines is not comparable with the cutflowers'. The demand for foliage is actually dependent on the demand for cutflowers since both are used for flower arrangements and bouquets. Most popular among cut foliage plants are various dracaenas, cordylines, ferns, palm fronds, and murraya. Meanwhile, landscaping materials usually cater to the needs of newly constructed or refurbished subdivisions, shopping malls, golf courses, parks and public/private buildings.

International demand for ornamental products is growing which local producers still have to take advantage of, particularly the cutflower and cut foliage markets. Although we have penetrated some Asian markets, exports have been irregular in the last five years wherein we traded only1,291 mt valued at $1.8 million. In 1999, the country earned $2.01 million in exports. The most in demand are fresh foliage which contributed 31% of the total export earnings, followed by live plants/cuttings and slips with 29%, cutflowers with 19%, and flower buds with 11%. In 2000, however, export earnings slipped at $1.98 million which pales in comparison to ornamental market earnings of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and most Asian countries.

Studies have shown that the biggest market for Philippine exports of live plants, cuttings, and slips is Korea. In the last five years, they have absorbed 65% of the total volume of this product line, and earned us $230,000 in 1999 alone. Meanwhile, Japan is the biggest importer of our cutflowers and flower buds, taking in 88% of the country's production from 1995-1999, and earned us $313,426 in 1999 alone. In a paper by Cecilio Costales entitled "Japan and Hongkong Market on Cutflowers," he described the vast opportunities awaiting our export producers, particularly Davao which has enough resources that can support large scale production of wide plant varieties, has typhoon-free areas, and improved facilities and communication systems. Like Japan, Hongkong is also a potential market since its ornamental imports have increased drastically from a mere HK$115 million in 1989 to HK$282.4 million in 2000. Dried cutflowers are mainly exported to the Netherlands. In 1999, our total export to this country was 26 metric tons valued at $192,280. The Netherlands took about 41% of our total ornamental exports from 1995-1999. In the same period, USA became a major importer of our fresh foliage, taking in 69% of our exports, and in 1999 earned for the country $492,593.

"Flowers are not made by singing 'Oh how beautiful,' and sitting in the shade." -Rudyard Kipling-

To reap something beautiful and beneficial, one must be prepared to work hard and invest on something like the beautiful orchid that blooms after months of delicate rearing.

To truly break into the world market, the industry must improve its capability to meet the world's terms of quality, variety, quantity, consistency of supply, price, and service reliability.

However, our local producers are hindered from improving their merchandise because of high production costs, shortage of quality planting materials, insufficient production technology, and unavailability of appropriate agricultural chemicals. These issues cause a chain of other problems for exporters as well since there are insufficient quality products to sell.

The Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) has created the National Ornamentals Research Development and Extension network which spearheads all development activities to improve the industry and has taken moves to continue the first Integrated Research Program on Ornamentals initiated by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD). The network has also formulated a national RDE agenda which contain specific programs and projects geared towards developing new technologies for the ornamentals sector.

It is true that we cannot expect great products by just desiring it, but by working toward it.

(Sources: National RDE Agenda and Program for Ornamental Crops; Japan and Hongkong Markets on Cutflowers by Cecilio Costales; Cutflower Industry Situationer report from www.da.gov.ph/agribiz/cutflower.html; Ornamentals and Medicinals from www.pcarrd.dost.gov.ph/commodities/crd/ornamentals/ornamentals_soa&soi.html.)