Phuket Ornamental plants & flowers

Ornamental plants & flowers in Phuket

Special Report for Andaman News NBT (VHF dial) + maybe FM90.5 Radio Thailand at 8.30am & perhaps relays/repeats on local Cable TV channel 1, broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces, & possibly FM108 Mazz Radio 7.30pm in Phuket, Wednesday 16 July 2008 & National News Bureau Public Relations Department Contact AndamanNews[at]yahoo.com

Ornamental plants plantations or farming is one of the growing and interesting careers in tourist destinations like the Andaman provinces. To help start your day brightly, shining and refreshing, this morning our reporter captures sights of a colourful local plantation. Let's go along to see:




From a so called flower from heaven which people usually grow to decorate their premises, the Heliconias are now becoming key cash crops for ornamental plant farmers in Phuket.
With their distinctive look, colors -- orange, red, yellow and pink, the Heliconias are now used for decoration and landscaping for the island's premier resorts and hotel accommodations.
This plot for ornamental plants located on over 29 rai in Srisunthorn of Thalang district, in the north of the island, belongs to Somchai Sakulchit. The farm is full of green and different colors of ornamental plants. It is also a learning centre for agriculturalists. This farm's produces feed local markets like hotels, resorts and luxurious villas, mostly belonging to foreign expats. According to Somchai, foreigners who are fond of these types of plants commented these are like flowers from heaven.
"My foreign clients normally said they appreciate them as paradise flowers. They are also durable, last about 20-25 days. Most clients have good purchasing power."

Heliconia is a genus of about 100 to 200 species of flowering plants native to the tropical Americas and the Pacific Ocean islands west to Indonesia. Common names for the genus include lobster-claw, wild plantain and false bird-of-paradise. The last term refers to their close similarity to the bird-of-paradise flower.

One corsage of the flower costs 30 baht. This is garden price. This earns the local farmer of around 2 -- 300,000 baht per year. At present Phuket has 120 ornamental plant growers. They mostly grow famous plants of orchids, anthurium and pot or hanging plants. The ornamental plants from Phuket are also exported overseas, accounting for around 250 million baht per year, as Somchai Hengwatcharapaiboon, Phuket Agriculture & Cooperatives Chief, explained:
"I try to get all the ornamental plants and flower producers together to provide new knowledge, new breeds to make it cost effective. The demand is high in the Andaman region. People who have capital also like to invest in farming to serve the market demand." In order to promote the flowers' market the authority is organizing annual ornamental plant fair during July 24th to August 2nd at the Saphan Hin ground in Phuket city. More than 80 producers and distributors of ornamental plants and flowers will be exhibiting their produce. The fair is expected to draw vast attention from visitors while the producers themselves can share experiences.

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