Challenges and Risks in the Floriculture Industry in Sri Lanka
Cost of production
In the Sri Lankan agricultural tradition the cultivation has done in the backyard with minimum materials and tools. Therefore, it could be said that the costs in relation to domestic market production is considerably low. But when regarding the international market, the locals has to make their production more competitive and therefore they have to use most recent technology and materials to maintain their competitiveness and the quality of the products.
However, financially it has proved to be a barrier for growers to up-scale their nurseries in order to increase the productivity and the quality of products. Initial investment in order to enhance the quality of the product with standards of exporting products is relatively high because of essential greenhouse establishments and planting raw materials.
There is very minimum support given towards the growers by the government in order to invest in more developed equipment’s and raw materials. The high financial cost involved would add up to the production cost which would lead to an increase in production cost. This would decrease the involvement of the government and other institutes towards the booming floriculture industry.
Minimum information sources In last decade or so, there was not any well-organized program to Understand the need of the growers and to change in their cultivation mrthods to increase the results, the lack of information regarding the industry was a highlighted fact in that case and the lack of information limited the improvement of knowledge on new technological cultivating methods on farmers.
Moreover, the small scale growers are not been informed of the market requirements of products and its essentials. Therefore, growers are unaware of the quality and standards of products and how to gain the quality which equals with the international standards itself.
Apart from that, some other market information that should be communicated are not reached the farmers repeatedly due to poor communicating and governing methods. Growers should have known the followings to make a good result out of their process.
“Availability of input supplies, organic fertilizers, new products in relation to disease control, new varieties of plants, greenhouse and construction materials.” etc.
1. Lack of coordination between relevant stakeholders
According to Export Development Board, there’s no well-organized program or coordination among the stakeholders of the floriculture industry regarding increasing the efficiency by using the same amount of resources. They also found that there is hardly any coordination between relevant stakeholders which has led to wastage of resources.
2. Availability of skilled labour
Employment standards increase as the scale of production increases. Since the requirement of workforce for high scale growers is moderate, there is no problem in finding labors. However, availability of skilled labour is a problem for medium scale growers who are to expand their nurseries that has no own training capacity.
3. Transportation of sand
The government rules and regulations with few restrictions are apply to the floriculture industry as same as other industries. There are governments’ restrictions on transportation of soil (sand) due to the high amount of soil erosion recognized by the responsible authorities and government tries to prevent it by imposing number of those restrictions on it. Therefore, it is necessary to acquire a flexible permit procedure even at a minimum level of sand transportation.
Characteristics in the Floriculture Industry- Sri Lanka Growing of floriculture products consists of normal procedures, on the purpose of export whole selling or domestic retail selling. According to the expertise in the industry, floriculture cultivation is totally different from agriculture because this needs its own inherited conditions like ‘climate conditions and the day to day high concern’. For example, certain plants are to be planted right on the soil, some are to plant on pots and several are to plant beyond the soil.
In recent years there was a increase in demand for organic products instead of fertilized products. It leads to a positive outcome in the local production of organic manure floriculture. As an additional benefit, organic manure is less expensive than use of fertilizers in the products which gives a competitive advantage for the growers to in their growing.
Competition in the industry At the moment there are around 30 exporters in the floriculture industry of Sri Lanka. Each of these exporters export different varieties of plants and flowers to different regions in the world. In addition the target markets are different from one to another. Even if there was at least low competition exists in the market the exporters tend to compete in terms of the quality rather than the price of the product under consideration.
Demand conditions The products should have the demand at local market and that leads to the success in the international market. In Sri Lanka there is a high demand in the domestic market for the floriculture industry with its related products.
During the recession period in Europe and western countries Sri Lankan floriculture income had gone in a deserted level where actually none of the western countries were interested in importing any products. However since the domestic market was picking up the exporters were able to recover the losses gained due to recession period. That’s the most highlighted aspect regarding the export industry because no one can confirm the demand levels due to the slight float in the western market.
Changing aspect in world economy Recessions (economic instability) and foreign exchange rates fluctuations in western countries during last 5 years, has made a major impact on the floriculture industry itself. But, in recent years starting 2012, there were lot of international opportunities have been created for floriculture industry and that lead to make a booming economy and market for this particular industry in order to overcome the deserted period during the recessions.
Cost of production
In the Sri Lankan agricultural tradition the cultivation has done in the backyard with minimum materials and tools. Therefore, it could be said that the costs in relation to domestic market production is considerably low. But when regarding the international market, the locals has to make their production more competitive and therefore they have to use most recent technology and materials to maintain their competitiveness and the quality of the products.
However, financially it has proved to be a barrier for growers to up-scale their nurseries in order to increase the productivity and the quality of products. Initial investment in order to enhance the quality of the product with standards of exporting products is relatively high because of essential greenhouse establishments and planting raw materials.
There is very minimum support given towards the growers by the government in order to invest in more developed equipment’s and raw materials. The high financial cost involved would add up to the production cost which would lead to an increase in production cost. This would decrease the involvement of the government and other institutes towards the booming floriculture industry.
Minimum information sources In last decade or so, there was not any well-organized program to Understand the need of the growers and to change in their cultivation mrthods to increase the results, the lack of information regarding the industry was a highlighted fact in that case and the lack of information limited the improvement of knowledge on new technological cultivating methods on farmers.
Moreover, the small scale growers are not been informed of the market requirements of products and its essentials. Therefore, growers are unaware of the quality and standards of products and how to gain the quality which equals with the international standards itself.
Apart from that, some other market information that should be communicated are not reached the farmers repeatedly due to poor communicating and governing methods. Growers should have known the followings to make a good result out of their process.
“Availability of input supplies, organic fertilizers, new products in relation to disease control, new varieties of plants, greenhouse and construction materials.” etc.
1. Lack of coordination between relevant stakeholders
According to Export Development Board, there’s no well-organized program or coordination among the stakeholders of the floriculture industry regarding increasing the efficiency by using the same amount of resources. They also found that there is hardly any coordination between relevant stakeholders which has led to wastage of resources.
2. Availability of skilled labour
Employment standards increase as the scale of production increases. Since the requirement of workforce for high scale growers is moderate, there is no problem in finding labors. However, availability of skilled labour is a problem for medium scale growers who are to expand their nurseries that has no own training capacity.
3. Transportation of sand
The government rules and regulations with few restrictions are apply to the floriculture industry as same as other industries. There are governments’ restrictions on transportation of soil (sand) due to the high amount of soil erosion recognized by the responsible authorities and government tries to prevent it by imposing number of those restrictions on it. Therefore, it is necessary to acquire a flexible permit procedure even at a minimum level of sand transportation.
Characteristics in the Floriculture Industry- Sri Lanka Growing of floriculture products consists of normal procedures, on the purpose of export whole selling or domestic retail selling. According to the expertise in the industry, floriculture cultivation is totally different from agriculture because this needs its own inherited conditions like ‘climate conditions and the day to day high concern’. For example, certain plants are to be planted right on the soil, some are to plant on pots and several are to plant beyond the soil.
In recent years there was a increase in demand for organic products instead of fertilized products. It leads to a positive outcome in the local production of organic manure floriculture. As an additional benefit, organic manure is less expensive than use of fertilizers in the products which gives a competitive advantage for the growers to in their growing.
Competition in the industry At the moment there are around 30 exporters in the floriculture industry of Sri Lanka. Each of these exporters export different varieties of plants and flowers to different regions in the world. In addition the target markets are different from one to another. Even if there was at least low competition exists in the market the exporters tend to compete in terms of the quality rather than the price of the product under consideration.
Demand conditions The products should have the demand at local market and that leads to the success in the international market. In Sri Lanka there is a high demand in the domestic market for the floriculture industry with its related products.
During the recession period in Europe and western countries Sri Lankan floriculture income had gone in a deserted level where actually none of the western countries were interested in importing any products. However since the domestic market was picking up the exporters were able to recover the losses gained due to recession period. That’s the most highlighted aspect regarding the export industry because no one can confirm the demand levels due to the slight float in the western market.
Changing aspect in world economy Recessions (economic instability) and foreign exchange rates fluctuations in western countries during last 5 years, has made a major impact on the floriculture industry itself. But, in recent years starting 2012, there were lot of international opportunities have been created for floriculture industry and that lead to make a booming economy and market for this particular industry in order to overcome the deserted period during the recessions.