Marketing the Philippine floriculture industry to the world

MANILA, Philippines - This coming Feb. 24 to Mar. 12, the Philippine Orchid Society and Department of Agriculture together with the Quezon City Government and the country’s top plant societies, producers, growers and hobbyists, will present to the world our country’s grandest floriculture show at the Quezon Memorial Circle grounds in Quezon City. Dubbed “Flora Filipina Expo 2012,” the show will showcase the best, latest and rarest of Philippine flora and high-value crops set in unique and expertly designed landscapes for everyone to see.

The Flora Filipina Expo, which has been held every three years since 2006, aims to promote the local floriculture industry to the world market, which is a $78.2 billion market. It is sad to note that the Philippines’ share in this market is only .02 percent as opposed to our neighbors Thailand, Malaysia and Taipei, who hold higher and more impressive shares.

The Flora Filipina Expo is also our country’s contribution to the global garden show circuit, which many plant lovers and plant scouts worldwide attend every year for their floriculture requirements. Its potential to draw in buyers and tourists alike is huge. That is why this endeavor needs a lot of government support if we wish it to be sustained for years to come.

This Vanda hybrid has our very own Waling-Waling in its genes. Orchid hybrids developed from our endemic species will be one of the major plants to be displayed at the Flora Filipina Expo, headed by the Philippine Orchid Society and the Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the Quezon City Government.

The Philippine floriculture industry is a thriving industry, with the capacity to meet the global demands for new flora and plant products.

Local plant growers from the past, who have relied heavily on imports for their plant stock, are no longer importing from other countries. They are now producing their own stock and have even gone to the extent of producing new strains and varieties from their own experimental breeding by integrating local varieties with foreign ones. The results are outstanding and the marketing of these new plant strains is very promising.

At present, plant production in the Philippines has increased and even improved a thousandfold due to the Filipino grower’s exposure to new and modern technology from the leading plant crop producers of the world.

Since the staging of the first Flora Expo in 2006, foreign countries like Thailand, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia and even France have already started tapping the Philippines as an alternative source for their requirements. Hopefully, with the opening of the Flora Filipina Expo this Feb. 24 and with our extensive worldwide promotions we will be able to expand our market and eventually develop our the Philippine floriculture industry as a major dollar earner for the country.

This new Anthurium hookereii variety was locally bred by Evangeline Go. Filipino breeders and plant growers have what it takes to compete globally with their production of new hybrids.

The Flora Filipina Expo will also be holding a conference on Feb. 24 and 26 at the Bureau of Soils convention hall in Quezon City with foreign and local experts as resource speakers. Likewise, there will also be daily free lectures and a commercial section with over 100 nursery participants at the show site. For more inquiries call the Philippine Orchids Society Secretariat at tel. no. 929-4425 or text 0922-895-9544.