Abraham Akawu, MD Flower Gardens |
Floriculture and nursery industries together are often
referred to as ‘ornamentals’ or ‘the ornamental industry’ or ‘non-food
agriculture’. The phrase ‘ornamental horticulture’ also includes the sod and
Christmas tree industries. A review of
the ornamental horticulture has shown a wider benefits that many people do not
know about as revealed in our interview with one of the practicing stakeholders
who said that the plants can provide multiple benefits to the economy, environment
and human lifestyles as many of these benefits are not well known or understood
by the general population. As a result,
there is a considerable opportunity for the ornamental horticulture industry to
sell more products based on its benefits. Read the rest of excerpts with Seun as Mr. Abraham Akawu of the MD
Flower Gardens at the Jabi Primary School spoke on the opportunities at flower
cultivations.
Can you introduce yourself?
I am Abraham Akawu
in charge of the MD Flower Gardens at the Jabi Primary School, which I will
call a family business, because it is a business our father introduced to us as
it was also introduced to him. The MD Flower Garden has been in existence for
past twenty years now.
Why are you doing this
business?
As I earlier said MD Flower Gardens is a business introduced
to us by our father who we also believed has inherited the business from his
own father too. I will tell you that flower horticulture business is a business
that pays more the other aspect of agriculture. The flower horticulture
business is no just a business but a means of employment, to tell you the truth
we have close to about seven (7) staff here and we also have a branch at the
Idu Yard junction opposite Pepsi junction with another set of workers. Yes so
many people see us managing flowers, but because they have failed to ask
questions they remain ignorant to see the opportunities in the business.
How would you describe the
business?
Early civilization
has found that plants were used to furnish foods, medicines, clothing and
shelter. Ancient Chinese documented the many uses of plants for beautification.
Plant collections were an important activity by the Egyptian military and
commercial expeditions, and Egypt became a breeding ground for plant magic.
The
Greeks excelled in their inventiveness of plant superstitions. Christian
priests in Europe used plants and flowers as teaching tools, and missionaries
brought back to church garden flower plants as source of ornaments. Those who
preserved flowers’ lawn and achieved both good and bad with plants during the
Renaissance were called witches or herb women. Victorian times witnessed many
wealthy countries using flowers and plants for ornamental uses, sometimes
paying enormous sums to collect and house their prizes.
As more people
gravitated toward cities during the Industrial Revolution they began to use
plants as decoration, being a reminder of their rural heritage and improvement
of their surroundings. In Canada, after both World Wars, the surge in immigrants
with backgrounds in cultivation of plants, coupled with improvements in
transportation, government disseminated production information, growing
methodologies and technologies, and breeding of new varieties all encouraged
the development of greenhouse and nursery facilities for growing ornamental
plants.
What is the economic benefit of Floriculture?
There are many benefits that one can derive in this business
ranges from economic to environmental and what I want to call a life style.
Under the economic benefits, having a particular species of flowers in the
house can give your home a cooling environment that may not require spending
money on any air-conditioner that will be gulping energy money in terms of
electricity. Also a well flowered lawn house will attract rentals because
everybody will like to live or work in a beautiful environment just as someone
will be attracted to paying a premium price on a well floriculture house. There
is no way a tourism business will strive without injection of floriculture of
using flowers to beautify an environment.
On environmental benefits, it can be used to moderate urban climate extremes
occasioned by climate change, mitigate urban heat island as
flowers produce oxygen, sequester carbon and ameliorate pollutions thereby improving
air quality both indoor and outdoor. It has high potential of
phytoremediation to mitigate the environmental problem without the
need to excavate the contaminant material and dispose of it elsewhere as it Improves
water quality, treat sewage and wastewater, Improve water management (flood
control) and erosion control, reduce impacts of weather
through windbreaks and shelterbelts, reduce noise pollution, control
urban glare and reflection, attract birds and other
wildlife.
Lifestyle Benefit- Reduces stress and improve
productivity at workplace or any school environment as it can calm and reduce discomforts, hasten
recovery of patients in the hospitals as it serves as practical horticultural
therapy to improve mind, body and spirit. Improve general quality of life
in urban settings, Create pride in community through community gardens and
allotment gardens. It is use to get attention and concentration
improvements for children, reduces aggression and violence, provide
space for recreation, enhances sport field safety, encourages
healthy active and passive lifestyle pursuits.
How are you making the market?
To survive, the
industry has to sell more plants or flowers and obtain higher prices. The four
ways to increase ornamental sales are: Increase the number of households who
are purchasing and younger customers. Increase the frequency of purchases by
existing buyers. Increase the transaction value per buying occasion. Create a
popular culture of personal use and enjoyment of ornamentals.
Can you list some of the flowers you have here for customers?
Mentioning a few of the flowers Zebralin, Antrium,
Efaventure.
What are the challenges faced in the business?
The cost of maintenance I will say is our major problem,
during the dry season; we need more water to wet our plant depending on the
location, if there is no water at the location then we need to buy, which is an
additional cost.
How do you breed your flowers?
We breed our
flowers through their appearance and study. These plants before displayed in
our garden must have undergone research and study on how it grows, its
lifespan, its sunlight attribute etc. Floriculture farmers produce about
6,000 species of cut flowers, potted flowering plants, houseplants, cut
foliage, bedding plants, bulbs, cuttings for propagation, food and medicinal
plants in greenhouses and outdoor-grown cut flowers.
Nursery farmers produce about 9,000 species of annual and perennial
plants, woody shrubs (foreign flowers), deciduous and coniferous trees, roses,
outdoor garden flowers, Christmas trees and sod.
However, the domestic
market for ornamentals has remained relatively flat, despite the increased
interest in gardening and landscaping over the past two decades. This is
because flowers, indoor plants and landscaping have to compete with many other
luxury items. The Nigerian horticultural industry can produce approximately 2 billion
naira or more annually if investments are proactively deplored to the sub
sector by our government.
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