The perpendicular light, the quality of the land and the height above sea level allow Ecuador to harvest flowers all year round and of unique quality, and that is why this country is the second largest exporter of flowers in the world.
An Ecuadorian rose can have an average life of four weeks from its harvest, but that is possible because the export floriculture of this country works as a “Swiss watch” and uses exceptional geographical and climatic conditions.
Agricultural conditions, as well as altitudes above 2,800 meters, give Ecuadorian flowers superior quality to those of its direct competitors, Colombia and Kenya.
For example, in this Andean country, located on the equator, there are four productive cycles in a year, unlike the two obtained in the northern and southern hemispheres.Thus, the production of roses is constant and plants receive perpendicular rays of light, so that their stems grow straight are wider and longer and have larger buttons. The roses of Ecuador are not distinguished, however, by their quantity, but by their quality. Exclusivity market “About 20 years ago, two different directions were taken in floriculture: one towards productivity and another toward exclusivity, and Ecuador opted for the second,” he says. The flowers that grow on the 2,800 meters are nourished and develop better, which at the same time allows to produce different varieties of roses that end up being quite exclusive.
Flower growers have bet on quality before the mass market, so “the great bulk of Ecuador is focused on fashion by 60%,” he explained. Swiss watch This strategy led national companies to work as a “Swiss watch”, improving their techniques and innovating in irrigation, nutrition and temperature systems, since each plant has an exact measure of fertilizer and water that it must receive. “The trick for the flower to last so long is not the packaging, it is the cultivation, the harvest, the post-harvest, the form of packaging, the cold work that is done to the plane, the logistics (…) is a whole process in which can not fail anything, “noted the executive.On the other hand, the cultivations of roses rotate annually by 10%, changing the varieties.
The whole farming system is computerized, because “mixtures are made that are injected by the irrigation system with barbaric precision because you can not overfeed a plant and you can not let it die of hunger.” To this is added the cutting technique, an ability developed by the flower cutters that requires a certain level of specialization, so that companies retain their staff as much as possible. Another issue that works is to satisfy the buyers, because the producers comply with “all the delicacies that the client requires, something that those who dedicate themselves to mass production can not do”.
