Taiwan Today

Comprehensive support measures are keeping Taiwan’s floriculture sector on the growth track.

At 3 a.m. every day, Wu Zhi-yan (吳致延‬) begins preparing a batch of African daisies for sale. Working in one of his family’s six large greenhouses, the 33-year-old flower farmer meticulously cuts and cleans the blossoms so they can be individually packaged and sent to a local distribution company. Within hours, the brightly hued flowers will be sitting on stalls at markets near and far.

Wu quit his job as an electronics engineer two years ago to take over the family farm in Tianwei Township of central Taiwan’s Changhua County. “My father’s getting old and finds it quite tough to carry out this strenuous work,” he said. “The outlook for the local floriculture sector remains strong and I thought it’d be a shame if nobody kept the business going.”

Like many small-scale growers, Wu has benefited from extensive public and private sector support programs. The family received more than NT$5 million (US$166,670) in subsidies from the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture (COA) for greenhouse construction and equipment. He also attended educational courses offered by the local farmers’ association in areas like disease and pest control and joined its support network for recent recruits to the agricultural sector.

Wu has ambitious expansion plans, including teaming up with neighboring operators to create an ecotourism destination. “Thanks to these assistance programs and resources, I’ve a great opportunity to develop the business,” he said.

Flowering Operations

Taiwan’s floriculture sector has enjoyed stable growth over the past decade on the back of rising domestic demand and expanded access to foreign markets. COA statistics show that agricultural land for flower cultivation was 14,355 hectares in 2017, up from 10,973 in 2000. Total industry production value reached NT$17.7 billion (US$590 million) last year, while flowers outstripped all other agricultural goods in revenue per hectare.

About one-third of Taiwan’s floriculture products are sold overseas. Local growers ship anthuriums, lisianthuses, and Oncidium and Phalaenopsis—or moth—orchids to destinations including Australia, the EU, Japan and the U.S. Orchids dominate the nation’s flower exports, accounting for about 90 percent of the total in 2017.

Taiwan’s status as an international center of orchid cultivation traces its origins to hobbyists in the 1970s. During that period of rapid economic expansion, groups of dedicated enthusiasts started accumulating and crossbreeding species. Their unique creations attracted high prices in the domestic market among fellow collectors and floral designers.

In the mid-1980s, the COA and state-run Taiwan Sugar Corp. (Taisugar) took notice and set about transforming the niche pastime into big business. By the following decade, Taisugar had introduced modern greenhouse systems from the Netherlands and started mass producing the flowers using tissue culture, a collection of techniques for cultivating exact copies of plants by growing cells in nutrient mediums.

As demand rose and production costs fell, more enterprises joined the sector, leading to the development of a complete orchid supply chain. Today, orchids comprise 35 percent of Taiwan’s floriculture industry, with local growers shipping US$178.3 million worth of the flowers to more than 80 countries and territories last year.

Cultivating Success

“Taiwan enjoys many advantages in floriculture like advanced biotech breeding techniques, favorable climatic conditions and rich genetic resources,” said Denise Fang (方怡丹‬), director of the Crop Production Division under the COA’s Agriculture and Food Agency. “Still, the country is facing increasing competition from China and Southeast Asia.”

At the core of COA efforts to ensure continued industry success is removing market entry barriers. A major milestone in this regard, Fang said, was the U.S. government’s 2005 decision to greenlight imports of Taiwan Phalaenopsis orchid seedlings potted in growing mediums. Local farmers received similar approval for Oncidium orchids in 2016.

On the home front, the council has worked to strengthen industrial clustering by establishing floriculture parks. Resident growers receive reduced rents on agricultural land and computer-controlled greenhouses, and can apply for low-interest business loans. A total of 16 parks have been set up across the nation, the most prominent of which is the 175-hectare Taiwan Orchid Plantation. Located in the southern city of Tainan, it is one of the world’s leading seedling cultivation centers for the flowers.

Creating value-added products is another major COA objective. The council has tasked several R&D institutions with developing varieties of orchids and other plants like calla lilies and Malabar chestnuts with superior traits such as more vibrant colors and longer lifespans. The agencies responsible for this work, including the Floriculture Research Center (FRC) in western Taiwan’s Yunlin County and Agricultural Research and Extension Stations around the country, also devise new cultivation, disease and pest management, and export packaging and storage techniques. Advances developed by the center increased the survival and growth rates of Phalaenopsis orchid seedlings by 10 percent while reducing production costs by 5 percent for local farmers between 2011 and 2015, according to the FRC.

Export Promotion

Government efforts to strengthen flower exports are complemented by extensive private sector initiatives. Taipei City-based Taiwan Floriculture Exports Association (TFEA) plays an important role in industry promotion by organizing delegations to the world’s leading trade shows. This year, TFEA groups participated in eight events including HortEx Vietnam; International Flowers and Plants Expo Tokyo; IPM Essen, an international trade fair for plants in Germany; and the Royal FloraHolland Trade Fair Aalsmeer in the Netherlands.

TFEA Secretary-General Ringo Chuang (莊炳煌) said that regular attendance at the shows has enhanced Taiwan’s image as a high-quality supplier. The nation’s stellar reputation is evidenced by the inclusion of local growers in Royal FloraHolland since 2015, he added.

The Dutch show was previously restricted to members that sell their offerings via the flower auction company. Noting that the Netherlands is Taiwan’s biggest competitor in the floriculture trade, Chuang said that taking part in Royal FloraHolland has enabled domestic growers to learn about the European country’s latest innovations as well as expand exchanges and tie-ups with leading overseas producers.

While TFEA works to boost exports, Taipei-headquartered Taiwan Floriculture Development Association (TFDA) focuses on strengthening industry practices. The group provides members with market intelligence and arranges a host of regular events spanning competitions, exhibitions, publicity campaigns, seminars and training courses. The association also helped establish the country’s flower auction systems.

“Our mission is to introduce cutting-edge concepts and technologies as well as new varieties and facilities from overseas to help upgrade Taiwan’s floriculture industry,” according to Kevin Chung (鍾國成‬), general manager of TFDA. These efforts are paying off, he said, noting that while overall export volume has decreased in recent years, revenue has risen owing to a greater focus on value-added products.

Central and local government agencies are the primary sources of funding for TFDA projects. The association received sponsorship to lead delegations to Floralien Gent 2016 in Belgium and Expo 2016 Antalya in Turkey with the aim of showcasing Taiwan’s cut flowers and ornamental plants and promoting the Taichung World Flora Exposition.

Running Nov. 3 to April 24 next year in the central Taiwan metropolis, the expo will feature an array of native fruits and flowers, as well as spotlight emerging environmental concepts and solutions. This will mark the second time Taiwan has held the show after Taipei staged it to great acclaim in 2010.

As a member of governing body International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) since 2004, TFDA helped the Taiwan cities win the hosting rights. Chung serves as chairman of the AIPH Marketing and Exhibitions Committee, which approves and monitors the organization’s international horticultural events. He said that participation in the Netherlands-headquartered association’s trade activities and biannual conferences increased the visibility of Taiwan’s flower industry and laid the foundations for the successful flora expo bids.

With the public and private sectors working hand in hand to boost industry development, producers at all levels are optimistic about the future. Luo Shi-ming (羅世明), a chrysanthemum grower located near Wu’s farm in Tianwei Township, praised the financial and technical assistance offered by the government, research institutes and trade promotion associations. “These programs give me the opportunity and motivation to continue my family’s farming legacy,” Luo said. “There’ll always be great demand for flowers, so we just need to keep creating high-quality products.”

Write to Kelly Her at kher@mofa.gov.tw