A 30-year overall review of the flower industry: variety research and development, export expansion, and the domestic sales gap remain unresolved; cut flowers and potted flowers need more sales channels

Taiwan, China is internationally renowned for Phalaenopsis orchids, and its flower industry is thriving even more, with the flower planting area growing more than 10-fold over more than 30 years. However, the flower market seeks novelty and change, the pace of domestic variety research and development lags behind that of foreign countries, exports rely on Phalaenopsis orchids and are concentrated in specific countries, a consumption gap has appeared in the domestic sales market, and there has long been a lack of flower education in the country.

This year, affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, flower exports were hindered and the domestic sales market fell into disorder, and the problems accumulated over many years in the flower industry surfaced one by one. Last week (October 14), the Taichung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station held a seminar on forward-looking research and development and international deployment for the flower industry, where industry, government, and academia separately explained the current status and problems of the flower industry and proposed feasible solutions.

Zhu Jian-yong, Emeritus Professor of the Department of Horticulture at National Chung Hsing University, believes that Taiwan's flower industry needs clear breeding goals and should develop special varieties not found abroad, for example, horticulturalizing endangered native Taiwanese plant species, which would make them more distinctive in the international market. The Agriculture and Food Agency stated that it will continue this year's flower support measures and strengthen the development of flower purchasing channels.

The flower industry rises, with planting area and output value climbing steadily, and nursery stock taking the top spot

Over the past 30 years, the total value of Taiwan's flower industry grew from 4 billion yuan to 18.29 billion yuan, and total exports also rose from 400 million yuan to 6.76 billion yuan. However, many problems have accumulated over the years, including failure to properly address plant variety rights, a pace of research and development slower than other countries, and excessive dependence on specific markets. This year, the Covid-19 pandemic struck, dealing a heavy blow to flower exports, while the domestic sales market also suffered because sacrificial activities were canceled and the restaurant and tourism industries were depressed, leaving large quantities of festival and commercial flowers with nowhere to go.

At the seminar, Chen Li-yi, Section Chief of the Crop Production Section of the Agriculture and Food Agency, explained that the domestic flower industry rose rapidly in 1984 and gradually matured and stabilized after 1994. The domestic flower planting area went from 1,241 hectares in 1978 to 14,455 hectares last year (2019). In 2019, the total agricultural output value was about 515 billion yuan, of which flowers accounted for about 3.55%.

The Agricultural Statistics Yearbook divides the flower industry into four major categories: cut flowers, potted flowers, nursery stock, and seeds. Chen Li-yi said that in the past, cut flowers had the largest planting area, but it decreased by 617 hectares over the past decade, while nursery stock and potted flowers gradually increased. In 2019, the planting area for nursery stock was 9,546 hectares, making it the largest of the four categories. Nursery stock includes garden seedlings and turfgrass, and the growth in planting area is related to urban greening, the tourism industry, and the development of leisure farms.