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Essen, Germany, Jan 19. (Pxp) .- With roses and carnations, eight Colombian companies will travel to Essen, Germany, to participate in IPM 2012, an exhibition that brings together producers of cut flowers from around the world, ranked as one of the most important exhibitions in Europe that involves issues of good practice the environment.
The Colombian companies are P.Q.R., Alexandra Farms, Unique Collection, Ayurá, Megaflowers, Singha, SB Talee and Flores de Funza, plus Flores de Aposentos, and Luisiana Farms, which will go on an observatory mission.
IPM 2012 will be held from January 24 to 27. Exporters will travel with the support of PROCOLOMBIA, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Colombian Association of Flower Exporters (Asocolflores).
The participants, who come from Bogota and Cundinamarca, will be located in an 80 square meter exhibition stand called Colombia Land of Flowers. They will also have a schedule of meetings with buyers during the event.
IPM celebrates 30 years of existence, and is considered the largest flower show in the industry. It will host around 1,500 exhibitors from 40 countries with an expected 60,000 visitors, including major importers and wholesalers. Not only will there be cut-flower producers, but also consumables and machinery companies.
The European market requires ' green' practices.
IPM is aligned with the European market' s characteristics which, specifically in the flower industry, increasingly demands for crops to be friendly with the environment and engage in social responsibility.
Therefore, the Colombian entrepreneurs will be Florverde certified, which is recognized by GLOBALGAP, and the most widely known internationally for the agricultural sector.
According to Ximena Franco, director of Florverde, good environmental practices are important not only because they are what the market demands, but also because it helps producers to monitor their crops.
" Everything must be measured in order to certify. It requires minimizing the use of natural resources, which will save money it also required to comply with labor, health and safety laws. This will enable you to perform permanent audit that provides alerts on your own system," said Franco.
The Asocolflores affiliated program was born 16 years ago as a strategy for implementing good environmental and social practices in the cultivation of flowers in Colombia.
For instance, water management, pesticides and labor issues are assessed towards achieving the certification.
About the Sector
In Colombia, there are nearly seven thousand hectares dedicated to the planting of flowers for export, of which 76 percent are in the Bogota Savannah, 19 percent are in the provincial department of Antioquia, and five percent in the Central-Western part of the country (Valle del Cauca and the Coffee Triangle).
Production is based on these three climate zones Bogota and its vicinity are the core of production of roses, carnations and alstroemerias in temperate climates like in the provincial department of Antioquia, farmers can grow gerberas and chrysanthemums and exotic flowers and foliage can be grown in the regions with warmer climates like Valle del Cauca.
Colombia' s strengths include unique brightness, humidity, temperatures and fertility of the soil, which favor the growth of the flowers and enable an all-year-round supply.
Furthermore, the country has the largest variety of exotic and export-type flowers in the world, with about 1,500, outstanding for their quality, size, color and aroma.
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