The chrysanthemum is one of the biggest crops grown in Colombia. And with a total of 10,000+ha of flower production, the country is an interesting destination for many breeders around the world. Also for Dutch breeding company Royal Van Zanten. For decades, they have been active in the Colombian market with different crops and two years ago, they reformulated clear growth ambitions for their chrysanthemum breeding in Colombia. They just added two new varieties, but in order to grow in this sector, they go beyond. In this article, Tjomme Gerbranda, Area Export Manager tells us more about how they aim to meet their ambition.
Kees Gram and Tjomme Gerbranda at Proflora 2023 with Bonita Sunny, Bonita Orange and Bonita.
Addition new varieties
One of Royal Van Zanten's well-known chrysanthemum varieties is Bonita, a decorative chrysanthemum type. "Bonita has been around for quite a while now and has become an established name in the market." This year, they added two new colors, namely Bonita Sunny and Bonita Orange, creating a range of three varieties. "We are very happy with these introductions because they, just like Bonita, have a good vase life of 22 days and are performing well in containers for ocean shipping, an option that is more sustainable and increasing in popularity among growers."
Sustainability
When talking about sustainability, Royal Van Zanten is continuously working on becoming more sustainable with its varieties as well as a breeding company itself. "Internally, we are working on becoming greener and we've already made several investments. On the varietiy side, we are looking for more sustainable varieties, so that the footprint per stem will be going down with new introductions." We have our first-ever ESG report- #wecaresoweact this year. It clarifies objectives and makes actions tangible and transparent. We improve every day to become more sustainable. We create equal opportunities for growth and strive for excellence."
Push and pull
And when you want to grow, it is important to grow together, Gerbranda concludes. "With the commercial team in Colombia we work hard to become more visible in the market and we therefore invest in better linking within the entire chain, from breeder to grower until importer and wholesaler. But also, being visible when consumers buy flowers through different channels”
For more information
Royal Van Zanten
Tjomme Gerbranda
Email: [email protected]
www.royalvanzanten.com
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