Cut flowers, a lucrative business in Nuwara Eliya

By Gamini Warushamana

Development in Sri Lanka has opened tremendous opportunities from Point Pedro to Devundera. The story of flower growers in Nuwara Eliya is a classic example of how the benefits of peace has filitered to the ordinary people and improved their living standards.

During the almost three decades of terrorism the tourism industry in the country was ruined and from five-star city hotels to hawkers who sold handicrafts to tourists and earned their daily living were affected.

Small-scale flower growers in Nuwara Eliya who supplied cut flowers to the local market suffered as a result of the drop in demand.

Today this process is reversing and the benefits of the booming tourism industry are trickling down to the people. Flower growers in Nuwara Eliya are one such group who are reaping the benefits of these new opportunities.

They foresee the opportunities that would open in the future and with the support of the Small Enterprises Development Unit (SEDU) of the Nuwara Eliya District Secretariat, 12 women entrepreneurs started commercial flower cultivation in 2010. They formed a flower growers society and sought support from government agencies and NGOs.

The Assistant Director of SEDU, D.G.M. Bandara said that flower cultivation was started as a special project for women entrepreneurs.

"At the beginning there was no market for flowers but we anticipated a demand with the increase in tourist arrivals and the reopening of hotels. We launched the project with 25 women entrepreneurs. Flower cultivation was being done by big companies and there were no opportunities for smallholders," he said.

"We identified three issues in promoting small scale commercial flower growers: technical knowledge, developing high quality planting materials and green house facilities. We provided technical training with the support of officers of the Hakgala Botanical Garden."

"High quality planting material imported from India with support from the Haggala Botanical Garden officials. The Upcountry Development Ministry provided financial support to build green houses," Bandara said.

"GTZ assisted us to send 25 flower growers for training at the Pune Horticulture Training Centre in India. Today there are around 125 commercial flower growers in the Nuwara Eliya district and they earn a good income and their living standard has improved," he said.

Sunethra Manel is one of the pioneers in this business and she has obtained technical training and other assistance for her business under the SEDU project. Flower cultivation is profitable compared to vegetable cultivation, because the cost is far less.

The demand is increasing and all kinds of flowers have a good demand. Astramaris, daisies, lilies, roses, tulips, jabaras, super daisy varieties have a good demand. The price is stable but in some months that do not have auspicious times, the demand is low. The demand is mainly from florists in Colombo. "I earn on average about Rs. 80,000 a month," she said.

Rohitha Jayasinghe is a flower grower and collector or intermediary.

He collects cut flowers from other growers in Meepilimana in Nuwara Eliya and sends it to the florists in Colombo.

The cut flowers are packed in baskets and transported to the Nanu Oya railway station and sent by train to the buyers. Train delays and damage during transportation cause losses. A proper supply chain has to be developed with the growth of the industry.

Growers anticipate entering the export market which is dominated by a few large scale companies. However, Bandara said that the quality of flowers produced by small holders do not meet the export market requirement while the quantity they can supply is small.

On the other hand, there is not much of a difference between the local market price and the price paid by exporters. However, the industry has the potential to scale-up and capture a share in the export market.

The unique climate in Nuwara Eliya is ideal for flower cultivation and the farmers who have been empowered by the project now know the technology. The scarcity of quality planting material is an issue. High profits generated by the industry at present stimulates others to enter this business. Frequent market failure in vegetable cultivation too motivates farmers to shift to flower cultivation.

To maintain the high profit margin in the future they have to enter the export market overcoming barriers.