Limited cultivation areas and a failure to satisfy choosy customers with high quality flowers are challenging the Vietnamese flower sector in gaining a foothold in foreign markets.

According to the head of the Institute for Vegetable and Fruit Research Trinh Khac Quang, the predominance of household-based cultivation has resulted in lower flower quality when compared to flora from other parts of the region.

Quang said only a few foreign invested companies and private firms that were able to adopt modern production techniques in their cultivation could successfully export their flowers.

Dalat Hasfarm Company, a Dutch-invested company in Lam Dong Province’s Da Lat city, exports about 80 million stems of flowers and 150 million seedlings each year.

Company general director Thomas Hooft said the firm could not take advantage of growing global demand for flowers due to a lack of land for expanding cultivation.

On average, Da Lat harvests 1.2 billion stems of flowers every year, but only 5 per cent meet export standards.

Statistics released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shows flower cultivation takes up more than 8,000ha of land nationwide.

About 4.5 billion stems of flowers were grown last year. Of which, 1 billion stems were exported fetching about US$60 million in export turnover. Da Lat earned about $16 million in export turnover last year.

Hasfarm is the first flower firm in Viet Nam to import new flower breeds from the Netherlands and other European countries, creating a rich gene base and introducing new high-quality varieties every year.

It is also among the few domestic companies capable of exporting high-quality flowers and flower breeds sourced from overseas with legal certificate of origins.

Quang said many local flower growers who secured high-quality breeds from overseas to grow on their own farms for export, obtained the seeds without paying the required patent fees. This in turn limited their export opportunities.

“The situation is hampering local companies from exporting their flowers,” he said.

Director of Tropical Flower Joint-Stock Company Pham Ngoc Tuan agreed, saying his company would look for an opportunity to export its lilies to foreign countries in the time to come.

“But as these markets usually require providers to show the origin of these flower breeds so it is not easy to do so in the short run,” he said.

Tuan said his company was supplying 30 per cent of lilies in the northern domestic market. He said his company would plan to export flowers only when it was able to ensure a steady supply of high quality flowers for export to foreign markets.

Master degree holder Nguyen Mai Oanh from the Agriculture and Rural Development Policy and Strategy Institute said the flower sector was still largely at the household-based cultivation level and had not yet received proper attention from the Government.

She said that as a result, the sector was short of investment capital, new production techniques and consumption markets.

Specialists believed the sector must prioritise flower quality as its top concern and make the shift from household-based cultivation to high-tech production methods. By so doing, the sector would be able to ramp up exports.

Director of the Centre for Flowers and Ornamental Plants Research Dang Van Dong said the State should invest more in research projects on flower cultivation while providing incentives for local businesses to export their flowers.

Professor Nguyen Quoc Trong from Ha Noi Agriculture University said Viet Nam should make use of weather conditions, original cultivation techniques and the availability of good domestic flower breeds to increase export turnover.

The Government has recently paid more attention to the flower sector through investing in flower cultivation zones. Ha Noi, for instance, has expanded it flower cultivation area to about 1,300ha.

The city’s Tay Tuu flower village received VND210 billion ($10 million) in investment last year to develop the village into a high-tech flower cultivation area to meet domestic and export demands.

Major import markets for Viet Nam’s flowers include China, Japan, Singapore, Australia and Saudi Arabia. As many as 85 per cent of flowers exported to these markets are roses, daisies and orchids.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Viet Nam will export more flowers to traditional Asian markets in the time to come. Total export turnover of flowers in Asian markets amounts to $102 billion each year. — VNS

Statistics released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shows national??? flower cultivation takes up more than 8,000ha of land.

About 4.5 billion stems of flowers were grown last year. Of which, one billion stems were exported fetching about US$60 million in export turnover. Da Lat earned about $16 million in export turnover last year.

Hasfarm is the first flower firm in Viet Nam to import new flower breeds from the Netherlands and other European countries, creating a rich gene base and introducing new high-quality varieties every year.

It is also among the few domestic companies capable of exporting high-quality flowers and flower breeds sourced from overseas with legal certificate of origins.

Quang said many local flower growers who secured high-quality breeds from overseas to grow on their own farms for export, obtained the seeds without paying the required patent fees. This in turn limited their export opportunities.

“The situation is hampering local companies from exporting their flowers,” he said.

Director of Tropical Flower Joint-Stock Company Pham Ngoc Tuan agreed, saying his company would look for an opportunity to export its lilies to foreign countries in the time to come.

“But as these markets usually require providers to show the origin of these flower breeds so it is not easy to do so in the short run,” he said.

Tuan said his company was supplying 30 per cent of lilies in the northern domestic market. He said his company would plan to export flowers only when it was able to ensure a steady supply of high quality flowers for export to foreign markets.

Master degree holder Nguyen Mai Oanh from the Agriculture and Rural Development Policy and Strategy Institute said the flower sector was still largely at the household-based cultivation level and had not yet received proper attention from the Government.

She said that as a result, the sector was short of investment capital, new production techniques and consumption markets.

Specialists believed the sector must prioritise flower quality as its top concern and make the shift from household-based cultivation to high-tech production methods. By so doing, the sector would be able to ramp up exports.

Director of Centre for Flowers and Ornamental Plants Research Dang Van Dong said the State should invest more in research projects on flower cultivation while providing incentives for local businesses to export their flowers.

Professor Nguyen Quoc Trong from Ha Noi Agriculture University said Viet Nam should make use of weather conditions, original cultivation techniques and the availability of good domestic flower breeds to increase export turnover.

The Government has recently paid more attention to the flower sector through investing in flower cultivation zones. Ha Noi, for instance, has expanded it flower cultivation area to about 1,300ha.

The city’s Tay Tuu flower village received VND210 billion ($10 million) in investment last year to develop the village into a high-tech flower cultivation area to meet domestic and export demands.

Major import markets for Viet Nam’s flowers include China, Japan, Singapore, Australia and Saudi Arabia. As many as 85 per cent of flowers exported to these markets are roses, daisies and orchids.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Viet Nam will export more flowers to traditional Asian markets in the time to come. Total export turnover of flowers in Asian markets amounts to $102 billion each year.

Source: VNS