Bogotá – 40,000 Colombian flowers will enhance one of Europe’s major 2010 social events, the June 19th wedding of Princess Victoria of Sweden to entrepreneur Daniel Westling in Stockholm. Augusto Solano, President of the Association of Colombian Flower Exporters (Asocolflores), stated that, “Colombia is proud to have our beautiful flowers play an important role in this marriage.”
“Twenty-four Colombian flower farms, with the support of Asocolflores and Proexport, the Colombian exports, foreign investment and tourism Office, will contribute the flowers needed for the arrangements, bouquets and floral decorations for this social event. The Swedish people can rest assured that beyond the recognized beauty and quality of the Colombian flowers that will embellish the Princess’ wedding events, these flowers have all earned the Florverde® certification label. This label ensures the strictest socio-environmental standards for flower production are met, and is bolstered by harmonization with the international Global Partnership for Good Agricultural Practices (GLOBALG.A.P.) standard,” said Solano. He also mentioned that the flowers being presented to Her Majesty Victoria for her wedding will be hand-picked from among Colombia’s most beautiful roses, mini-roses, carnations, lilies and hydrangeas.
“Colombia has earned its position as the top provider of flowers to the United States and as the second largest exporter worldwide. It boasts a portfolio of 1,600 different varieties of flowers that generate opportunities for direct and indirect employment for over 225,000 Colombians, most of whom are female heads of household”, Solano pointed out.
Ulf Berg, Director of the Swedish Foreign Trade Council, visited Colombia in April. He expressed his utmost satisfaction during his trip to one of the flower farms that will contribute flowers to the Princess’ wedding. “I had no idea that Colombian floriculture was so important in the world, much less what it meant to a country like Colombia in terms of providing employment and generating exchange currency. I am pleasantly surprised, too, at the industry’s socio-environmental advances”, the Director said.
Sustainable grown certified Flowers for the world
Augusto Solano pointed out that Colombia is one of the flower-producing countries to have made the greatest strides in social and environmental achievements. Asocolflores’ member flower growers continue to make significant socio-environmental advances through Florverde®, an independent certification process created in 1996 in pursuit of providing solutions for improving the quality of life of floriculture workers, preserving and protecting the environment, and ensuring the highest production standards. Additionally, Solano stated that in 2009, almost 90,000 workers benefitted from social programs made possible by industry investment of over US$13 million.
In 2009, Colombia exported over 1.3 billion sustainably grown and Florverde®-certified flowers to world markets.
KEY STATS IN COLOMBIAN FLORICULTURE – Source: Asocolflores
Colombia is the primary provider of cut flowers to the U.S. market and the second largest exporter in the world
Total Export Sales (2009): U.S. $ 1,050 billion
Jobs generated by flowers in Colombia (2009): 225,000 legitimate direct and indirect
Rural employment (2009): 25% of female rural employment in Colombia
Other beneficiaries: More than 1,700 displaced families have been given the opportunity to build a new life in the Colombian floriculture industry.
Source: Asocolflores