Growing an Industry

Brazil project has created economic opportunity

By Mauricio Mathias

An outside view of the Reijers Produo de Rosas facility in the Brazilian state of Cear. A concerted government program created a booming ower industry where none had existed before.

If a bouquet of flowers is a gift that shows you care, what would a whole flower industry be? In Cear, a state in northeastern Brazil, concerted government action created an export flower business that has grown from virtually nothing in the year 2000 to the second largest in the country and first in rose production. Total flower acreage has gone from 55 acres in 1999 to 634 at the end of 2006 and exports of flower products jumped 19 percent from 2006 to 2007, reaching a value of $5 million (U.S.) It isnt a bed of roses yet, there are still issues to be resolved, especially the air-cargo bottleneck there is not enough air freight room to transport roses in the amount and frequency growers need. But all in all, the success of Cears initiative has attracted attention in and out of Brazil.

Background While Brazil is still not a major player in the international flower market unlike its success as top world producer of several other crops the export of flower products has grown. In 2007 Brazils flower exports marked their fifth consecutive yearly export record even if at a modest $35 million, mostly with cuttings and bulbs sales. Most of Brazils flower production takes place in its industrial south, where a milder climate and higher income work in favor of flower growing and sales. In Brazils less-developed northeast however, most factors seem to conspire against it. Its hot and sunny weather doesnt favor flower cultivation in greenhouses. So not surprisingly, the region has the least flower consumption as well. The state of Cear for example, has an average income equivalent to half of the national standard. Brazil is a huge country with contrast-

ing regions. The northeast, for instance, is famous for its Caribbean-style beaches, but a good part of its countryside is plagued by frequent droughts. The semi-arid landscape in most of this part of Brazil resembles that of the southwestern United States and not the green, luxurious forests most foreigners picture when they think of Brazil. But the region also includes the nearly 3,000-foot high Ibiapaba plateau, 220 miles from Cears capital, Fortaleza, which had a mostly unexplored agricultural potential. Then a government study showed this area had favorable conditions for flower cultivation: cooler nights and more regular rainfall, plenty of underground water, a relatively flat landscape, plus inexpensive land and labor. In order to make such development program bloom within a reasonable timeframe, the state agriculture secretariat set out to solve possible obstacles. First was the governments own slow speed
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Cear to some of the main U.S. and European flower trade shows to spread the word about this opportunity and to assess overseas markets. The main logistical advantage for Brazils northeast is the shorter distances to the U.S. and Europe compared to the main production centers in the south. This has already been proved in the fruit sector. Some northeastern states have become major exporters of tropical fruit to northern hemisphere markets and much of this growth was achieved by attracting key international fruit companies to its canal-irrigated projects. The prospective flower companies proved to be more eluThe arching pruning technique bends part of the foliage away from the plant, leaving shoots with buds straight up.This results in a better microclimate around sive. While many came to visit the plant. A plastic liner, visible at lower right in the photo, is wrapped around Ibiapaba, and a couple did buy the trays of cocoanut coir media to collect the draining nutrient solution. land there, none actually started to implement such plans. To overcome this, growing. The project may never have gotten project-specific activities were outsourced to off the ground if local players hadnt stepped the Agropolos Institute, a non-governmental forward. organization with the state legislatures Another hurdle on the list was the lack permission. of local expertise in flowers. A Colombian Second was market promotion, so Cear consultant, Julio Cantillo, was hired by set up a partnership with Apex, the federal Agropolos. Infrastructure was also a problem. agency in charge of aiding export initiatives. To answer it, an 860-square-foot cold room The resulting Flora-Brasilis program took

was built at the capital airport for customs inspections before shipment. Finally, they had to deal with the thorniest issue of all: breeders rights. Because national plant protection laws are still unclear on vegetatively-reproduced plants, Cear could not afford litigation with foreign breeders. To overcome this, direct breeder-grower agreements for royalty payments had to be worked out by each exporter in order to receive government support. Help for incoming farms meant assistance for potential buyers to find land, public services had to be guaranteed up to the farm gate, and exemptions were granted on added-value taxes for imported production materials.
Own backyard The unexpected, but welcomed, surprise was that the opportunity was seized by Brazils own growers and businessmen, rather than by international firms. Cearosa, Cears very first rose greenhouse, was locally owned, and since its owner didnt have an agricultural background himself, his first action was to hire Julio Cantillo to manage production, a position he still holds.

Thousands of roses grow in the greenhouses in Reijers Produo de Rosas.

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 During the last eight years Cantillo has overseen the companys growth from 2.5 acres to more than 17, employing 120 people. Constant experimentation has been the trade mark at Cearosa, where some plants are grown in coconut coir, and others in soil, and more than 50 varieties have been tested in partnership with a foreign breeder. The result of all these trials is that one of the varietys yield has doubled from 5.6 roses per square feet 11.2 in a year. Pests and diseases are now controlled biologically. The introduction of beneficial fungi and mites has cut the use of pesticides in half. Now that production has stabilized at a good level, trials continue in a separate area, where resistance to downy and powdery mildew is being assessed. Roses grow in the tall greenhouse at Cearosa avoids.The buildings height Todays largest operation in Ibikeeps heat and humidity from building up during the rainy season. apaba is Reijers Produo de Rosas, part of the largest greenhouse rose Brazilian Institute of Floriculture (Ibraflor), growers in Brazil. Presently with 50 acres of continues to promote Brazilian flowers overdrip-irrigated plastic houses, they export 50 seas. Presently 39 companies from eight difpercent of their production between Decem- ferent states are affiliated, aiming to increase ber and February, mainly to Portugal and the flower exports. The program is supported by Netherlands. Apex-Brasil. Heleno Assis, one of the production managers at Reijers, explains that cultivation is all done hydroponically, either in three- or Mauricio Mathias has managed hydroponic five-gallon pots filled with coconut coir greenhouses in the US and Mexico. He now and topped with palm leaves to keep in the works in Brazil as a horticultural consultant moisture, each with three or four plants. and free-lance writer to ag media. Readers can More recently troughs have been adopted, contact him by sending e-mail to mauriciofilled with the same substrate. mathias@hotmail.com Other Ibiapaba farms include Agrifloricultura Reijers, cultivating roses exclusively to the national market under 13 acres of plastic, grown in the soil; and the Swart group, the newest arrival, also rose-growers with 6.5 acres and plans to add another 3 this year. Employing an average of six people per acre with roses, job creation is definitely one of the best merits of this initiative. People from such rural places would typically migrate to bigger cities in search of jobs, but now they can make a living in their own communities. Another nice development since the onset of the initiative has been the increased interest in floriculture at local ag colleges, because now it is an attainable career. Most managers are from Cear, and even small local growers who want to venture into flower-growing can count with TecFlores, a training center with hands-on short courses. Cearosass production manager, Julio Cantillo, satised The Florabrasilis project, a partnership with their roses quality standard. between the Instituto Agropolos and the
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