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
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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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