8. CUT FLOWER PRODUCTION IN SRI LANKA - D.M.U.B.

Dhanasekera[8]
1. Introduction
Cultivation of flowers for various religious and cultural festivals has existed in Sri
Lanka for ages. It was only after the British rule that floriculture really came into
practice not as an industry but mainly as a hobby for pleasure. Later, with many new
introductions of tropical and sub tropical plants the trend was gradually passed down
to other levels of society.
Floriculture in Sri Lanka started as an industry in 1970. It has grown substantially
during the last few years to become one of Sri Lanka's major foreign exchange
generating ventures.
2. Present Situation of Cut Flower Production
Western, North Western and Central Provinces in Sri Lanka are the major areas
where cut flowers are grown commercially. Cut flowers grown in the country can be
divided into two main categories based on their temperature requirements i.e.
Temperate Cut Flowers and Tropical Cut Flowers.
Temperate Cut Flowers: Temperate cut flowers include carnation, rose, statice,
gypsophyla, alstroemeria, chrysanthemum, lilies and irises. Among them, carnations
and roses are grown mainly for export, in the highlands of the Central Province of Sri
Lanka. Carnations are produced entirely from imported planting materials and are
graded according to internationally accepted specifications for export. The other
species are commercially grown mainly for the local market.
American and Mediterranean carnation cultivars are quite famous in the world
market. Pink, white, red, yellow and salmon colours are much popular. Novelties
such as striped and frosted types are also becoming increasingly popular. American
cultivars grown are silvery pink, karina, barbara, red barron, elsy, royalette,
bagatalle, bianca and adelfie. Mediterranean cultivars grown are nora barlo,
shainah, lena, castellaro, scania, tanga, roma, pallas and charmeur. Carnations are
grown in poly tunnels, covering more than 10 hectares, under fully protected
environments.
Roses are second to carnations and production is limited to about 40,000 blossoms
per annum. This is mainly due to the highly expert conditions required for cultivation
and production. Approximately 2-3 hectares of area have so far been used for
cultivation of roses. Roses for the export market are grown under controlled
environments in poly tunnels. Popular colours are highly variable. They are generally
required in a mix and an acceptable mix would consist of red-50%, Pink-30%,
yellow-10% and others 10%. Roses are quite popular in the local market also. Most
of them are supplied by small scale growers.
Tropical Cut Flowers: Anthuriums and Orchids are the most popular tropical cut
flowers which are being grown commercially for exports as well as for the local
market. Anthuriums can be grown at elevations up to 1500 metres above sea level,
with texture and the flossiness remarkably enhanced with increase in elevation.
Annual production of anthuriums is around 3 million flowers, the majority of which
are sold at the local market. The exports of Anthuriums at present are not very
significant. A land area of approximately 10 hectares is under Anthurium cultivation
at present and the industry is expanding steadily at village level. Almost all
plantations are either under poly tunnels or structures with shade netting. However,
locally available materials are also used under certain conditions to provide required
shade levels. The standard trade types in the world market are the "Avo" lines i.e.
Avo Nette, Avo Ingrid, Avo Anneke. The improved standard types e.g. Germa, Cuba,
Fuego, Favoriet etc. are also popular. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya,
being the pioneer institution for the development of cut flower industry in Sri Lanka
has produced a few promising Anthurium varieties with export potential. Some of
these varieties are being closely studied and mass propagation has just been
started. A few of the slected varieties are: RBG - Green Tip, RBG - Soft Sheen, RBG
- kandy queen, RBG - Gardens Pride, RBG - Royal Flag, RBG - Lak Isuru, RBG -
Wild Beauty, RBG - Krishnas Red.
Tropical Orchids can be grown under warm humid conditions up to 500 metres
above sea level. Climatic conditions in the Western Province are quite favourable for
cultivation of Dendrobiums, Vandas and Phalaenopsis types which are quite popular
in the local and foreign markets. Approximately 3-4 hectares of land are under
Orchid cultivation at present and the industry is gradually developing to cater to
export markets. Almost all cultivations are under shade netting and the majority of
growers have developed mist irrigation techniques. ‘Madam Pompadour’ (Pink and
White), and ‘Rena Vapahoo’ (Pink and White) hybrids are some of the popular
hybrid Dendrobiums in the market. Hybrids of Arachnis, Oncidiums, Phalaenopsis
and Dendrobiums are being exported in smaller quantities and the income earned is
not very significant.
Gerberas are becoming popular among growers due to the availability of a wide
range of long lasting cultivars produced by many modern breeding methods and
tissue culture. These cultivars can be broadly categorised into three classes, namely
Singles (such as ‘Fleur’ and ‘Apple Blossom’), Doubles (such as ‘Marleen’ and
‘Hildegard’), and Black Centres (such as ‘Fabio’ and ‘Rosseta’). Pink, salmon,
orange, red and yellow are the popular colours in the market. Trials have already
been started under controlled environments by private entrepreneurs to grow
gerberas for the export market. About 2 hectares of land is so far being used for
gerberas.
Grower Categories and Specialities
Generally, large scale commercial establishments also have their cultivations under
green house conditions, poly tunnels or netting. The medium and small scale
growers either have their cultivations under natural shading (under trees) or use
locally available materials such as coir fibre mats, cajans (dried and woven coconut
palm leaves) or ropes to provide shade requirements of a particular crop.
Sri Lanka's floriculture industry consists of three categories of producers or growers
a) large commercial ventures for export; b) middle level growers catering to the local
market; and, c) village level producers who may sell their products to either of the
two categories mentioned above.
The total land area under floriculture is around 500 hectares at present and the
majority of lands are in the Western Province. There are 10 ha under carnations, 3
ha under roses, 2 ha under gerberas, 10 ha under anthuriums, 3 ha under orchids
and 472 ha under foliage plants. These figures clearly show that the floriculture
trend so far in Sri Lanka has been in favour of foliage plants.
The majority of large scale commercial growers produce plants in collaboration with
foreign partners. Technology is shared by these partners and highly advanced
methods of production are followed. However, most of these ventures are involved
in the production of ornamental foliage plants and very few are involved in the
production of cut flowers. Middle level and village level growers usually go in for low
cost cultivation with minimum advanced techniques, sticking to conventional
methods. The majority of these growers are the ones who produce cut flowers.
Therefore, most of the cut flowers produced are used to satisfy the local needs and
only the surplus is exported occasionally in small amounts. The exception is the
production of carnations which are grown mainly for the export market. However,
export oriented cut flower ventures are on the increase.
3. Production of Planting Material
Flower seeds of many flowering annuals such as asters, petunias, impatiens, phlox
and verbenas are produced mainly for export under fully controlled green house
conditions. A small part of this production is released to the local market at regular
intervals. The bulk of floriculture planting materials exported are in the form of stem
cuttings rooted or unrooted. A very small amount of bulbs, corms and tubers are
exported to specific customers abroad.
Large tissue culture units are few in number. However, at present, six commercial
tissue culture units are operational. One of these laboratories specialises in the
production of cut flower anthurium plants through tissue culture. This venture is of
recent origin and produces large quantities of anthurium plants now popular in the
world market. Four of these laboratories are attached to large commercial, export
oriented nurseries involved mainly in ornamental foliage plants and to a lesser
extent cut flowers. The sixth of these laboratories is exclusively for the production of
orchids for export.
There are a few middle level orchid growers who own mini-laboratories for the
production of orchid seedlings and other ornamental plants for village growers.
4. Marketing
Thus far the cut flower market in Sri Lanka has not been able to create Auction
Centres as many other countries have done. Retail outlets scattered through the
production areas are the popular centres where cut flowers are sold. There are few
growers who have created cooperative systems to sell their products.
Exporting of cut flowers is done by a few societies which have a selected group of
partners and farmers. In many instances the agents are sent to villages to collect
flowers from farmers directly. Exports of floriculture products from Sri Lanka are
shown in Table 1. Main export markets are Europe (72%), and Far East and Middle
East (28%).
Table 1. Export of Floriculture Products from Sri Lanka (1990-1995)
Value (Million Rupees)
Product
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

Bulbs, Corms, Tubers 0.5 0.71 21.2 21.6 10.03 6.1

Live Plants 99.5 123.1 132.4 120.3 162.4 179.0

Cut Flowers 31.0 29.7 21.7 34.5 45.3 54.8

Cut Foliage 60.3 77.74 106.9 111.0 189.1 190.2

Total Rs. Million 191.3 231.25 282.2 287.4 406.83 430.1

5. Potential for Cut Flower Production Development

Sri Lanka's stable and varied tropical climatic conditions and the geographic terrains
from sea level up to 2200 metres of humid mounts have created magnificent macro
and micro environments to house many thousands of local as well as sub-tropical
and temperate plants. The rich native flora contains many potential ornamental
plants which could be developed to satisfy the demands of the flourishing industry.
Sri Lanka has a favourable location to serve different markets in the world.
Availability of land and the high literacy rate of the average person would be an
added benefit to those who wish to invest in the industry. In addition, the tax benefits
and BOI incentives granted by the government would help bring in more investors to
the country and facilitate further development of the existing industry.
Furthermore, the new policy framework prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture and
Lands has clearly identified the need to initiate a Floriculture Research and
Development Programme. This programme will cover many areas such as
agronomy, pathology, entomology, mutation, breeding, post harvest and mass
propagation to support the industry.
6. Constraints in Cut Flower Production Development
The following are the major constraints being faced by the majority of growers:
a) Inadequacy and high cost of air cargo: Air Lanka, the national carrier has always
given priority to perishable cargo. However, the available capacity is not sufficient.
b) Lack of facilities for research and development: So far only the Royal Botanic
Garden, Peradeniya has been involved in providing assistance by and large to the
middle and village level growers, but this is negligible when compared to the ever
increasing demands of the industry.
c) Lack of trained personnel: The floriculture industry requires trained personnel at
each level of production. Education programmes from schools up to University level
and training institutes to conduct courses on high-tech practical skills in floriculture
are essential for the development of the industry.
d) Big initial investment on farms: Duty free facilities for import of vital items not
produced in Sri Lanka such as shade nets, uv stabilised polythene, irrigation and
fertilising systems etc. would help to promote the industry.
e) Lack of improved systems of marketing: Lack of proper or organised systems for
marketing and inadequacy of current international market information on prices,
trends, volumes and data on competitive countries etc, severely affect the
development of the industry.
f) The uneconomical size of floriculture industry: Difficulty in acquiring suitable land
and lack of infrastructure facilities also adversely affect the industry.
g) Lack of information on pesticides: Current information on pesticides and their
acceptance in various countries is essential.
h) Phytosanitary clearance: Phytosanitary inspection just prior to shipment are
inconvenient and expensive, besides leaving no time to rectify any problems.
7. Conclusions
Floriculture has a great potential in Sri Lanka even though the existing market share
is less than 0.2% of the world market at present. Interest in the cut flower industry is
encouraging and many investors, both local and foreign, have started their nurseries
to cater to the expanding market.
A comparison of the world trend and the production figures of Sri Lanka clearly show
that we are not in line with the world trend. However, this situation will soon change
with the new policy changes taking place in the country. The Ministry of Agriculture
and Lands, Export Development Board and various Floricultural Associations of the
country have got together to discuss various issues in this regard and progress so
far is very encouraging. Steps should, however, be taken to encourage floriculture
research to cater to the special needs of the existing industry and to facilitate long
term research programmes to explore the rich flora of the country to develop
novelties to satisfy the growing market.
The Government should take immediate steps to alleviate constraints mentioned
above and to create an Institute or a Centre for Floriculture Research and
Development. This could be a semi-governmental Centre or an Institute partially
supported from the growers annual income.

[8] Superintendent, Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.