Barbacena 10.1

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26 www.HortiWorld.Flower TECH 2007, vol. 10/no. 1

Barbacena had a bright

start as an exporter of

roses in the early 70´s

but this didn´t guarantee a

place in the sun for this town

perched at 1,100m in hilly

Minas Gerais state, southeast-

ern Brazil. Its terrain is full of

ups and downs, and so is its

history of rose growing. At a

time when other production

centers were starting to devel-

op, nearly 100 local rose grow-

ers were already regularly send-

ing their flowers to Europe.

However, a series of problems

nearly wiped the town out of

the flower business.

Barbacena’s official title of

´City of Roses´ remained, but

the few growers that continued

focused on the local market,

with only one exporter. Asthere have been no investments

in varieties or technology, the

region fell seriously behind in

productivity. Now Barbacena

and eight nearby towns have 70

ha of ornamentals, and 35

growers, making it today´s 5th

largest region in rose produc-

tion in Brazil . Sebrae* invited

Flower Tech to see the changes

that are under way.

Growers were visibly demoti-

vated until Felipe Alvim, a

young Sebrae manager, started

to encourage the sector again.

Firstly he requested a business

analysis, then he introduced

pin-pointed actions with which

he steadily gained the confi-

dence of growers, such as tours

organised to visit flower pro-

duction in other regions, and

to attend trade shows. Oncegrowers saw for themselves that

rose-growing was a profitable

business in other places, they

were convinced that new varie-

ties and cultural practices could

in fact turn things around. And

so they did, or rather, are

doing. There is liveliness in

town again as growers find

themselves planning for the

future once more.

History Flower cultivation has quite a

history in Barbacena. It started

in the 1950´s by German and

Italian immigrants, and their

descendents. Anzano Loschi

started the growers´ coop

Uniflor, and after the success of

its roses in the national market,

exports started in earnest in

1969. In the early 70´s ship-

ments were being sent to theUS, the Netherlands, Sweden

and Switzerland.

At the time, a partnership was

signed with importers from

(then) Western Germany for

direct sales between the

months of November and

April; followed by the UK and

Italy in 1972. Between 1970

and 1976, Barbacena exported

an average of nearly 28 million

stems/year - perhaps not much

by today´s standards, but at a

similar level with Colombia at

the time, and years ahead of

other dominant production

centres in Brazil today. Busine

was doing well and growers

used to go to Europe to learn

new techniques and keep

updated. The first problem

came in 1977: increasing com

petition from other exportingcenters was already being felt,

when German importers

defaulted on their payment.

The legal rigmarole that

ensued was never fully settled;

the importers alleged a prob-

lem with one of the shipment

but continued to request more

flowers. In the meantime

Uniflor kept on paying its loca

suppliers believing in a settle-

Barbacena in south east Brazil has a turmoil

history of rose production.

New blood and

government impetus is

stimulating production

there again.

By Mauricio C. Mathias

[email protected]

Barbacena bounces back int

Programmed pruning is another change that is making the difference, by pruning on the 1st of August, the first harvest will

take place by the 20th of September, peaking again by the 25th of October and in December.

ebrae is a

mi-govern-

nt agency

sting small

d medium

inesses.

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Flower TECH 2007, vol. 10/no. 1 2 www.HortiWorld.nl

oses

ment, until the word came thatfurther imports had been

suspended, leaving previous

debts unpaid. During the suc-

cess of the first years many

were attracted to rose-growing,

with 97 growers in the region

supplying Germany almost

exclusively. Since variety, size

and even packaging were all

geared to a specific market,

only a few were able to place

their products elsewhere. With

Uniflor´s bankruptcy, dozens ofgrowers had their land repos-

sessed by banks, or had to sell

out: Strike one! The few that

did survive, were those that

either weren´t too indebted or

had national buyers as well;

from then on Barbacena con-

tinued as a major supplier but

only in the national market.

A second upsurge came in the

1980´s when a German citizen

started “Brazil Flowers”, a farm

that intended to use new tech-

nology to, again, sell roses in

Western Germany. With invest-

ments in irrigation, pruning

and cold storage the company

took off, peaking between 1988

and 1992 when it exported 40

million stems/year. Eventually

it became the biggest employer

in town, with 800 workers. By1995 though, competition

from Colombia, Ecuador and

African countries was winning

over their markets, and in the

next year the company was

forced to close down: Strike

two!

Today In the decade that followed,

Barbacena kept a low profile

supplying only the regional

market, with isolated cases ofexport. Even nationally, other

production centers moved fur-

ther ahead.

However, with yearly average

temperatures of 17˚C, and 14.5

MJ/m2/month of global radia-

tion, Felipe knew that the

region´s production potential

had not changed, but the prob-

lem lay in outdated agronomic

practices and ultimately in

management issues. He then

started to introduce changes

following a Sebrae methodolo-

gy of result-oriented actions. It

was necessary to reverse the

downward spiral, caused by lit-

tle investment which resulted

in low yields with low econom-

ical return, and so forth.

Durval Almeida, a Brazilian

agronomist with experience in

Colombia was hand-picked by

Sebrae to train the growers,

who hired him as a consultant.

“The first main change we

introduced was in nutrition,

since many growers relied on

top dressing during some

months and organic fertiliser

for the rest of the year; with

sprinkler irrigation. Using soil

and leaf analysis, the adoption

of drip irrigation allowed for

fertigation, supplying the right

nutrients at the right time.

Together with the change of

varieties, some growers have

seen a 200% increase in pro-

duction,” says Durval.

“In addition, a more even

production decreased the seri-

ous drawback of stopping dur-

ing the winter months: A 70%

drop in production was the

rule, hurting commercialisation

each year. Now with other

improvements in new pruning

techniques, training labour and

rationalising spraying we have

increased production in the red

The success of traditional growers has attracted newcomers. Milton Pereira, leather

fern grower, started two years ago with 1,000 m 2. Now he delivers 1,200 fronds

weekly, and plans to expand to 2,000 m 2.

Regional production was 1.5 million stems in 2004, having doubled by 2006, and projected to reach 5 million stems in 2007, whereas exports are expected to be 100,000 in that year

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28 www.HortiWorld.Flower TECH 2007, vol. 10/no. 1

Vegas variety for example, from

40 stems/m 2.year to 120, while

reducing costs.” The results

speak for themselves,

Barbacena production has dou-

bled between 2004 and 2006.

Royalties Among local growers, Jair

Marciano da Silva has been the

only exporter on a regular

basis. Now managing 9 ha

spread over 30 plastic houses,

he employs 45 people, harvest-

ing 250 dozens daily. Just

before Valentine´s Day 2005,one of his rose shipments with

80,000 stems was seized at

Lisbon airport because it con-

tained registered varieties that

had not paid royalties (Flower

Tech 8, #2). He explains, “We

were wrong. We lost that ship-

ment and we legalised our pro-

duction with the breeder at the

time”. After that event, ‘royal-

ties’ became the talk of town,

Flower festival remains steady

Throughout Barbacena’s rocky historyone tradition has remained. This is the

five-day ´Festa das Flores’- a festival

revolving around roses and flowers. Its

39th edition last October, was attended by

120,000 people, the main attractions

being flower stands prepared by different

farms and the sale of rose bushes for gar-

den lovers. Grower Sheila Loschi special-

ises in the retail of rose plants, selling up

to 7,000 plants during the fair. The last

day of the festival attracts the most peo-

ple, to watch a parade of flower-covered

tractors and floats, and see the crowning of a beauty queen.Sheila is also the president of Abarflores, a growers´ association founded in 2000 with the sole purpose of

organising the festival and the agency Sebrae has also rallied growers around it.

“Due to the history of rose-growing here, it´s no exaggeration to say that most growers were carrying a

heavy emotional baggage,” explains Felipe Alvim, of Sebrae. “Plus, many of the growers´ children wanted

nothing to do with floriculture, because they grew up during the boom and bust years. That raised the issue

of continuity and some growers were considering stopping altogether.” Abarflores now has 28 members and

it estimates that the flower sector is responsible for 1,500 direct jobs, plus another 2,500 indirect ones.

and several breeders noticed

that Barbacena was on the

upswing again.

As a result, growers who unit-

ed were able to negotiate col-

lective purchases of new varie-

ties with some of the breeders,

while go-alone growers ended

up paying full prices, and

breeders driving harder bar-

gains lost an opportunity.

Breeder rights are covered

under the Brazilian law, as a

signatory of the UPOV-78, due

to a loophole in the legislation

however, vegetatively repro-duced species were left out,

among them several ornamen-

tals. An amendment to this law

has faced much red tape and it

is still to be voted on in con-

gress.

The fact that older varieties

are being replaced by newer,

more productive and sought-

after ones is another reason for

the market success that is stim-

ulating Barbacena growers

again. Jair has been a grower

for almost 30 years, and during

this time he has navigated the

ups and down of the Brazilian

economy, from hyper-inflation

in the 80´s to the lower US dol-

lar exchange rate of today. He

sums it up, “In the last 10 years

the price of older varieties has

gone down, but electricity and

diesel have gone up. The only

way forward is to invest in

higher-yielding varieties,

improve management and cost

control.”

OpportunitiesInternational breeders know

that an area of 70 ha of flowers

which is about to redevelop is

a great opportunity so several

of them have set up local trials

to display their products and

check their performance.

Around this total estimated

acreage, 60% are roses while

chrysanthemums come next,

followed by gerberas, orchids

and anthuriums. Upcoming

rose varieties are Carola,

Impulse, Girldfriend, Akito,

Greta, and Caballero. Jair esti-

mates that 80% of what the

market wants are red roses, bu

yellow has been increasing

steadily.

PerspectiveJair concludes, “With all the

changes we introduced, my

average yield has gone up from

70 stems/m2.year (varying

from 20 to 120 according to

variety) to nearly 100 now. In

the end I can say it is a win-wi

situation since a new, registere

variety costs me more per

plant, but the market pays

more for their flowers.” His

main varieties for export are

Gala, Versilia, Tineker, Sandra,

Confetti, Texas and Vegas.

By helping to transform farm

ers into entrepreneurs, Sebrae´

small steps are going a long

way to increase professionalism

in the Barbacena´s flower sec-

tor. Isolation, both geographi-

cal, from its buyers, and amon

growers themselves resulted in

a narrow and short-term view

of the market. Now with a wider perspective, and not see

ing themselves as a region wit

only a glorious past, but with

rightful place in the future,

Barbacena is back. “We have

just started”, says Felipe,

“Unlike in the past, this time

we are banking on sustainable

production, now the growers

are in charge of their own

future.” n

Barbacena 10.1

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