The unseen opportunities- by MD Flower Gardens

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.