According to SAFEC CEO Jac Duif, growth of the floriculture industry depended on the export of "niche" products. For this to happen, however, the government needed to fund research and development to get indigenous species to a level where they can be commercially farmed, Duif said
John Meijer, MD of one of South Africa's biggest flower farms, Finlays Horticulture, said Australia was working to commercialise a hybrid of South Africa's national flower, the king protea. "It is important for South Africa to start protecting its natural wealth," he said. Among the bestselling flowers in the world is a South African species, the Gerbera (or Barberton daisy), which was taken to commercial production on a massive scale through research carried out in other countries, Meijer told Business Live. Duif admitted that the Agricultural Research Council did not at present have the budget and capacity required to farm indigenous species commercially and that, as a result, many indigenous species had been "stolen" and are now being mass-produced in other countries such as the Netherlands, New Zealand, the US and Japan.
According to Meijer, inflationary pressures, tariffs, a volatile rand and restrictive, slow-moving, regulatory issues were putting additional stress on South Africa's high-volume, low-margin flower industry. Meijer said Finlays Horticulture wanted to expand its operations and assist small, independent farmers to set up their own operations, but had been struggling to get the necessary permits and water licences to proceed. "We plan to provide small farmers with the necessary expertise and access to markets to start up their own farming operations on a contracted-out structure. This is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to create new jobs," Meijer said.
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