UNIVERSIDAD SAN IGNACIO DE LOYOLA

TOPIC:
“FLOWER INDUSTRY IN COLOMBIA”

SUBJECT: Post Harvest Management

TEACHER: María Teresa Lavado

STUDENT: Farissa Chávez Lázaro

2018 – I
 INTRODUCTION

Colombia is one of the most advanced economies in South America, with a GDP that
has grown at an average annual rate of 4.6% in the last five years, according to the
World Bank. Its economy depends on two key sectors: mining, including oil and gas,
and agriculture, with coffee and flowers among the most important economic products
for the country.

Colombia is the second world exporter of flowers after Holland. Their flower exports to
the United States have grown rapidly since the first shipments were made 50 years
ago. Today, the US flower market it is by far the most important, representing 75% of
exports. Russia is the second largest customer, but very behind with 5% of flower
exports.

Colombia's flower trade is considered a model of economic cooperation between Latin

America and the United States. Several early factors laid the foundation for the long-
term viability of this industry and its success. In August 1961, the US president John F.
Kennedy launched the Alliance for Progress, which aims to increase economic
cooperation between Latin America and the US, with a specific focus on agriculture.
THE EXPANSION OF THE MARKET

In 1967, David Cheever, a graduate student in horticulture from the University of

Colorado, identified the attractiveness of the industry in his master's thesis, "Bogota,
Colombia as a Cut-Flower Exporter for World Markets." He pointed out in his research
that the region around Bogotá was ideal for growing flowers, and its proximity to an
international airport and the US. It made Colombia an ideal exporter. Cheever opened
a business in 1969 that was so successful that nine competitors entered this export
industry in the following five years. But the US market It has been a challenge,
especially due to the changing tastes of consumers.

Japan is a high-quality market where flowers are sold at higher prices than in the US,
which makes these exports profitable even with the additional transport costs. The
objective of selling in this market would reduce the dependence of Colombian
producers on exports to the US, and achieve a more constant income flow throughout
the year.

As in the US, there is a great demand in Japan for flowers intended for special events,
such as Mother's Day, Valentine's Day and Higan (days of the spring and fall equinox
when services are carried out). in memory of the ancestors). The Japanese buy flowers
more frequently for home decoration, floral art or special events. On the other hand,
Japanese consumers are willing to pay a higher price for better quality. This means that
Colombian flower producers who meet the requirements of the Japanese market can
enjoy the benefits of a more stable demand and a higher profit margin. At the same
time, flower importers in Japan are considered demanding, not only because of the
strict requirements of consumers, but also because of the specificity of their orders.

In addition, in general, flowers must be transported from Colombia to Japan no later

than 72 hours after being cut. Although the flower production area is concentrated in
the outskirts of Bogotá, about an hour's journey by truck to the main airport, and the
Colombian flower industry has improved the shipping process significantly, it is still
difficult to complete the delivery to Japan within 72 hours and control the flowering
rate of the flowers to ensure that they will be in optimal condition when delivered.
THE NEW GOVERNMENT POLICIES

Flower exports are an important source of income for the Colombian economy.
However, the industry is volatile and is affected by many factors, including climate.
Farmers are also one of the most unprotected classes in the country.

The flower industry, like most agricultural industries, is unpredictable and requires
investments in technology, land and material. To buy seeds and plants, companies
usually ask for loans and return them after harvest. There are two restrictions on loans
from private banks in Colombia: the high interest rate and the reluctance of banks to
grant loans to volatile and high risk companies.

To deal with this problem, in December 2014 the Government established 40 different
lines of credit for agricultural industries through Banco Agrario. This process allows
farmers to access credit in less than three days and take into account production
cycles.

It is useful to compare the role of the current Government of Colombia with that of the
Netherlands, the largest flower exporter in the world. The Dutch government had tried
to promote the growth of the sector by subsidizing the costs of new technologies and
allowing the use of new pesticides. Currently, agricultural commercial banks, such as
Rabobank, offer loans at a low interest rate.

Regarding the open skies policy of the Government of Colombia introduced in 2011,
the agreement reached with 36 countries provides more airlines access to the
Colombian market and offers consumers more attractive prices. As a result,
transportation costs and delivery times have been reduced significantly, and the
competitiveness of Colombian flowers abroad has increased.
THE SOCIAL IMPACTS OF THE SECTOR

The importance of the sector in the economic balance sheets of Colombia and in
employment is undeniable, there are also shadows around the business of flowers. To
begin with, although Asocolflores insists that the sector has high formality rates, that
is, that most workers are blank, something that does not happen in other flower
producing countries. The associations of workers of the sector have denounced a
constant pressure of the employers to work more and faster: this explains that the
total production has remained despite the 12,000 workers who were dismissed in
2010. This increase in productivity was achieved on the basis of to impose inhuman
rhythms with days that, in high season, arrive in extreme cases at 20 hours a day,
according to the NGO InspirAction.

ASOCOLFLORES
The Colombian Association of Flower Exporters, Asocolflores, was created by 11
exporting companies on January 26, 1973.

The Association is created with the purpose of forming a guild that will represent its
interests before the National Government and governmental entities and
organizations abroad, and that will also support logistics and transportation, and
advance social welfare initiatives.

The Association is a nonprofit guild corporation, representing 371 flower farms. It has a
Board of Directors composed of 21 members representing the interests of all
companies regardless of their size or condition (Categories A, B and C). It has 371
associated crops in Cundinamarca, Antioquia and the Central West region.
Objective: Represent and support the Colombian flower producer-exporter sector, to
achieve its strengthening and sustainable, harmonious and competitive development,
as a stable source of employment and generator of foreign currency, for the progress
of its affiliates and the country.

The local organization Corporación Cactus ensures that the majority of workers do not
have sick leave or maternity leave and few are covered by health or unemployment
coverage. Occupational diseases are frequent, but rarely recognized by insurers; and if
the worker wants to complain, he often does not even know where to do it: more than
a third are hired by intermediaries.

The risks to the health of women workers in the flower industry have traditionally
been one of the most controversial aspects of the sector, as detailed in a study by the
International Center for Sustainable Trade and Development (ICSTD): ergonomic
problems due to the postures to be adopted, injuries and cuts, exposure to extreme
temperatures, highs and lows, psychosocial disorders as a result of the pressure to
which they are exposed to meet the standards of productivity of the sector. According
to Oxfam, some medical research has revealed that two thirds of Colombian workers
have health problems associated with pesticides, ranging from nausea to abortions;
among other things because, for the sake of productivity, they are forced to enter the
greenhouses shortly after being sprayed with pesticides.

Pesticides, pesticides and other pesticides also affect the environment and, for this
reason, the social fabric of the communities. The cultivation of flowers is very
demanding of water resources, which limits the amount of water available to
households, and chemicals can contaminate groundwater sources: in the Sabana de
Bogotá, for example, floriculture contaminated aquifers . In addition, like any
monoculture, flowers can leave sterile lands, and displace traditional crops, which are
usually food for local consumption, with which communities lose food sovereignty.

GENDER ISSUE

About 65% of Colombians working in the flower industry are women, almost always
rural or from marginal urban neighborhoods. This feminization of the sector has left an
unequal balance: on the one hand, the boom in the flower industry has meant the
insertion in the labor market for many women, who, having a salary, gain autonomy
spaces and decisions in the sine of their homes. However, they perform the worst-paid
tasks, within a radical sexual division of labor: in the floriculture industry, women clean
the weeds, tie the plants, prune, cut, harvest and pack, while the men are engaged in
irrigation, fumigation and maintenance.

The workers have also denounced practices of employers that violate their sexual,
reproductive and labor rights, such as when they are required to present a negative
pregnancy test. A study by Corporación Cactus ensures that 82.8% of companies in the
sector in Colombia request these tests; in the Sabana de Bogotá, there are several that
even require a tubal ligation certificate.

CONCLUSION:
Colombia has a great diversity of flowers, has a large export market, but at the same
time has aspects to improve as the percentage of informality and respect the rights of
workers.