Floriculture export valued at RM417.3mil last year

Green wonder: People looking at bonsai trees at the Orchid, Flora and Herbal Festival 2022 at the Kota Bharu Rural Transfor­mation Centre. — Bernama

KOTA BARU: The floriculture industry recorded an export value of RM417.3mil in 2021 compared with RM403.0mil in the previous year, said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry I Datuk Seri Ahmad Hamzah.

Especially promising are orchids which are considered high value products for their concentrated market demand.

In 2021, he said, the national flower production was estimated at 414 million cuttings or vases, valued at RM270mil.

He said the agenda to increase export and targeted products by increasing market growth and the development of high value products was among the strategies focused on in the National Agro-Food Policy 2.0, Bernama reported.

“The growing demand of the floriculture industry in the global market will definitely be an opportunity for local producers to explore and develop.

“This will further drive the country’s economic growth in terms of income generation.

“There will also be a positive spillover to various other sectors,” he said when opening the Orchid, Flora and Herbal Festival 2022 at the Kota Bharu Rural Transformation Centre (RTC) here on Friday night.

Also present were the State Agriculture, Agro-based Industry, Biotechnology, Green Technology and Environment Committee chairman Tuan Mohd Saripudin Tuan Ismail, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry (MAFI) secretary-general Datuk Haslina Abdul Hamid and Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) director-general Datuk Zainal Abidin Yang Razalli.

Ahmad said the Orchid, Flora and Herbal Festival 2022 is the seventh edition and would close on June 12.

“The Orchid, Flora and Herbal Festival 2022 is targeting about 300,000 visitors, and a total sales value of RM3.5mil,” he said, adding that it involved the participation of 170 agropreneurs.

The programme also aims to promote the Malaysia Agriculture, Horticulture and Agro Tourism Exhibition (Maha) 2022 which will be held from Aug 4 to 14 at the Malaysia Agriculture Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS), Serdang, Selangor.