Don’t expect flowers this Mother’s Day, according to the main Makati florist



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Of the many heartbreaking scenes that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, one video in particular has an unexpectedly overwhelming effect.

On March 20, as the Dutch flower auction in the Netherlands halts, workers gather in the town of Naaldwijk, South Holland to carry out the process necessary to destroy all the plants that unfortunately would have been wasted.

Flower boxes are unceremoniously thrown on the pavement with mechanical efficiency, still wrapped in plastic, locked in multi-colored pots. The stack is then stacked and raised into containers. The auction workers had already donated various flowers to hospitals as a gesture of thanks to the medical staff. But the rest, these roses, tulips, and flowers that were meant to brighten someone’s desk, lift the spirit of a loved one, or adorn people’s homes – all of this must be disposed of, while the resulting plastic waste is sorted and recycled . The process is quick and clinical, workers face gloomy and gloomy.

Flowers to take to auction rooms.

Michel van Schie, spokesperson for Royal FloraHolland, addresses the camera. “The Dutch auction has already been in existence for more than 100 years, and this is the first time we have been in a crisis,” he says. In the last two months alone, over 400 million flowers have been thrown in the Netherlands.

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The actual supply of flowers at a flower auction.

Painful and difficult

Across the world, a similar scene played out in a small, discreet corner tucked away in the OPVI Center on Chino Roces Ave. Ext., Makati. Antonio García, Mabolo’s design director, has been in court at this mini-oasis for flower growers enthusiasts since he founded the flower and home goods store in 1996. But on March 16, after Luzon was Placed in enhanced community quarantine, he found himself going through his display, deciding which plants had to be destroyed and which could be given away.

“The flowers and foliage are kept as a vegetable salad,” he explains. “They should be at an optimal temperature and stored in highly oxygenated water that is changed and rated daily.” Knowing that all pending orders would now be canceled and that these fragile and perishable products would soon be at their best, Antonio had no choice. “We received calls to prepare flowers for some people who unfortunately passed by,” he says, “but then there were no open chapels, much less were they allowed to have a suitable stele.”

Antonio in a farm of roses and hydrangeas glass house.

Antonio’s sister and business partner, Gema, suggested that the potted plants be donated to the nuns at the Colegio de la Asunción in San Lorenzo Village. “They were delighted,” he says. Then they started making phone calls offering flowers to friends and neighbors who might be willing to stop by and pick them up. Once that was done, the only task left was the most difficult and painful of all; Most of the shares had to be destroyed.

From early Dangwa to dark days

Antonio shines with pride when he talks about how he has seen the Philippine flower industry evolve and prosper. Remember the Dangwa flower market of the early ’90s, with street vendors settling in at 3am behind rented jeeps after loading buses with flowers picked from the mountain province at midnight. “Lots of flowers littered the sidewalks, of course, they weren’t sorted or cleaned, and they were covered in fresh water,” he says, describing the chaos. “This is because at a certain time, the sales area had to be clear … the 4:00 am frenzy was incredible, magnetic and quite satisfying.”

Since then, Dangwa has become a force to be reckoned with, a crowded marketplace gathering media coverage on notable occasions filled with flowers – Valentine’s Day, Undates and, of course, Mother’s Day. “There is definitely a vital element here and it supports many, many people who, to this day, remain heroes in my eyes.”

He goes on to list the components of a business that is resilient, vital, but mostly under the radar (“We call ourselves the Silent Flower People,” he jokes): farmers who fall into the category of non-traditional agriculture, flower and foliage producers. Antonio has done his part to elevate the industry by empowering the farmers and backyard producers who supply them.

“We teach them the value of caring for the land they cultivate: how not to abuse that land by using chemical infusions of pesticides, fungicides and any nervous agent, since this is extremely harmful to health and, ultimately, the soil yields ,” he says. “It’s about back-to-basics farming techniques, with an adaptation of modern thought processes.”

Antonio García on one of his business trips.

Now, his chest clenches as he thinks about how the farmers and vendors who trust them will navigate his way as the world economy turns upside down, with many dark and uncertain days ahead. Data collected between March 16 and April 17 shows that sales at Royal FloraHolland, the world’s largest plant auction, had dropped an average of 50% each week compared to the same period in 2019. People they are busy stocking up on food, medicine, and toilets. paper. No one is buying bouquets of flowers.

“Everything is on hold since there are no flights, no local trips, and no entry to the provinces where the farms and producers are located,” says Antonio. As a registered florist at Royal FloraHolland, she is an active participant in the global auction, bringing flowers from growers to Kenya, Israel, Australia, Colombia and Thailand, all of which are now inaccessible.

Antonio’s sister, Gema, checking the flowers on one of the trips to Mabolo.

And the flower export business is also very affected. The Philippines’ largest national farm, home to the world’s largest bromeliad nursery, supplies plants to countries including the Netherlands and Japan. So far, they have already had to cut half of their regular employees as they absorb massive losses in quarterly business. “Since the cancellation of flights and the closure of the provincial borders, there are no exports and even access to local markets has collapsed,” continues Antonio. “With uncertain parameters for future business, they are preparing to fire even more staff, farmers, and production managers.”

On a more personal note, the pandemic has struck very close to home: “We had a deceased friend in the industry and we couldn’t do anything about it,” he laments, “much less celebrate his life with flowers.”

A busy day in Mabolo, Valentine’s Eve 2019.

A proposal for mother’s day

With the country preparing to celebrate Mother’s Day this quarantined Sunday, Antonio sadly admits that his small team in Mabolo will not be able to participate. “The reality is that we can’t even access local suppliers, let alone imports,” he says. “There have been non-stop questions about Mother’s Day and I have to be honest and frank. And so, many are really sad and even ask for other possible ideas to celebrate. My sister and I just look at each other and are speechless as we have no options available. “

That is why he proposes an alternative: celebrate quietly at home with his mother this weekend, in a discreet way according to the unique circumstances in which we live. But please order that flower arrangement you deserve once the ECQ is up, or do. It’s a joint celebration in June when Father’s Day comes.

“The reality is that we cannot even access local suppliers, let alone imports,” says García.

“Hopefully, through this, we create an opportunity to acknowledge and express our appreciation not only to our mothers, but also to our fathers and to all fathers,” she says. Additional Bonus: You will be able to provide much-needed support to the many small but valuable local businesses that have been severely affected by the ECQ trade freeze. “This gives everyone a chance to resurrect and celebrate, plan ahead, recover and, most importantly, stay safe in the meantime at home.”

Antonio also points out that the flower industry, by nature, is one of the most hygienic, as it has long practiced the strict sanitation measures that everyone now considers the new normal. “The entire workshop is cleaned and disinfected daily to maintain sterility, including the water treatment system we use,” he says.

But just as the flowers sprouting from the ashes are a widely used metaphor for hope, he stubbornly clings to it and begs everyone else to do what they can. “Not only the flora industry, but together with many micro, small and medium-sized companies like us that are starting to speak, all SMEs are the main vital element of the economy. Our culture and lifestyle belong to the low and middle income groups of society. These are our true heroes underpinning the economy. ”

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