Current Development Status of the Rose Industry in Shiqiao Town, Nanyang City
Roses are one of the most popular flowers in the world. It is estimated that in the next 10 years, China's annual consumption of fresh cut roses will reach 100 million stems. As one of the sunrise industries in the floral and nursery stock sector, the rose industry has enormous development potential. Shiqiao Town in Nanyang City, Henan Province - the hometown of Chinese roses - is China's largest rose seedling breeding base and rose seedling export base. A few days ago, a reporter from China Green Times traveled to the ancient capital of Nanyang to conduct an on-site visit to rose production in Shiqiao Town.
In late autumn, roses in Shiqiao Town are still blooming in succession, red, yellow, and white. At a glance, the patches of rose bases look like a streak of rosy clouds on the horizon, illuminating this land that has weathered many vicissitudes. It is understood that the rose planting area in Shiqiao Town, Nanyang City, is more than 8,000 mu, with an annual output of 120 million cuttage and bare-root seedlings, and the supply of rose seedlings accounts for 80% of the domestic market. They are also exported to the Netherlands, Brazil, Japan and other countries, accounting for 60% of China's total rose exports.
Favorable Timing and Terrain Ignite New Vitality in the Ancient Capital
Nanyang is located in the southwestern part of Henan Province and is known as the "Southern Capital" and the "Hometown of Emperors." It lies in the climatic transition zone between north and south, with four distinct seasons, a mild climate, and abundant rainfall. Its inclusive and accommodating characteristics make Nanyang an ideal area for the varietal acclimatization involved in "moving southern flowers northward" and "sending eastern flowers westward."
In 1981, some farmers in Shiqiao Town began introducing famous and superior rose varieties from Beijing, Shanghai and other places, and roses took deep root in this land. After 30 years of continuous cultivation and specialized production, the rose planting area in Shiqiao Town increased steadily.
The "leading enterprise in China's rose industry," the Nanyang Rose Base, has a rose planting area of more than 5,000 mu and is currently China's largest rose seedling breeding base. According to Xu Chunfeng, assistant to the president of the Nanyang Rose Base, superior natural conditions such as climate are the prerequisite for Nanyang becoming China's rose seedling breeding center.
"In Nanyang, especially in Shiqiao Town, rose seedlings can overwinter normally in the open field in winter; large-scale seedling cultivation in solar greenhouses can be carried out; the natural growth period of roses in a year can reach 8-9 months, equivalent to two years of growth in the north; compared with the south, it also has the advantage of being able to naturally enter dormancy, and after being tested by frost, it can kill most pests and pathogens in the soil." Xu Chunfeng said.
It is understood that in most other rose seedling production areas in China, the planted varieties are only distinguished by color and are collectively called red roses, yellow roses, and pink roses. However, since the very beginning, the development of Nanyang roses has firmly taken the path of pure varieties. Through more than 20 years of external introduction and internal breeding, the actual number of rose varieties held in Nanyang has reached more than 700. The Nanyang Rose Base also continuously develops and promotes new rose lines according to market demand. Since the 1990s, the Nanyang Rose Base and the Beijing Institute of Landscape Architecture have cooperated to successively introduce climbing roses suitable for urban greening and ground-cover roses for preventing soil erosion.
Today, the Nanyang Rose Base has become a private enterprise integrating scientific research, production, and sales, specializing in the production of rose seedlings. It produces more than 20 million A-grade or above standard seedlings annually of various types, including tree roses, large-flowered roses, climbing roses, ground-cover roses, floribunda roses, miniature roses, roses, and cut roses.
Cooperative Development, United People Exploring the Market
In 2008, Nanyang's first rose professional cooperative - the Nanyang Rose Cooperative - was established under the guidance of the government. Following the principle of voluntariness, the cooperative organized many large rose growers and scattered small growers in Shiqiao Town, integrated resources such as land, capital, and personnel, and guided rose growers onto the path of large-scale and industrialized development.
At present, the cooperative's rose planting area is more than 1,600 mu, and it has established a rose seedling breeding base and a fresh cut rose production base. It has nearly 60 members and has established order-based sales relationships with more than 90 flower farmers, covering more than 60% of small and medium-sized rose seedling growers in Nanyang. It is understood that in the first half of this year, the cooperative's sales revenue reached 7.8 million yuan. The cooperative is applying for a standardized and large-scale rose seedling production base project. Through the "cooperative + base + farmers" operating model, it closely coordinates all links such as seedlings, breeding, transportation, and sales, achieving leapfrog development in economic and social benefits.
According to the "Twelfth Five-Year" Development Plan for the Flower Industry of Nanyang City and the Development Plan for the Rose Industry of Nanyang City, the Nanyang municipal government is accelerating the cultivation of a group of leading enterprises and professional cooperatives with strong production and market development capabilities, forming a production method of "leading enterprise + base + farmers" or "professional cooperative + base + farmers." It guides enterprises, professional cooperatives, and farmers to establish long-term and stable purchase and sales relationships, adopt order-based development, implement unified planning, unified shed construction, unified seedling supply, unified management, unified branding, and unified sales, and strive to achieve the specialization, intensification, and industrialization of rose flower and nursery stock production.