Varieties are valued at millions, often billion of US dollars. For many successful breeders their varieties represent their most-prized assets. So why are varieties valuable? A powerful well regarded variety can shift the demand curve.

They completely change the consumers’ perception. These perceptions affect individuals’ attitudes and behaviors, including purchasing decisions, and thus in-turn affects the business success of the breeders. In short, they provide a barrier to competitors by creating an essential competitive advantage.

So, do not allow growers mess up with your variety. Growers are there to perform a specific role, to grow. They will do it for a short time, before moving to another variety or the next challenge. So perhaps it is best not to leave the true value of your variety in the hands of apprentices. Leave it to Flower Watch. They will make your variety a super brand by giving it the correct vase life in a better cool chain management.

So, who said the grower would like a poor brand. He knows the value of brands because his name is a super brand in the market place. And by any cost it should remain so. Perhaps he even needs Flower Watch more than you, the breeder.

For he knows one thing, the price of a cut flower is determined by its quality at point of sale, not at harvest. Remember, he has invested hugely from selection, propagation, production all through to harvest, so he needs a prime cost. So, it now is clear that both have a common denominator Flower Watch.

Vase Life League Vase Life league is a concept that is of paramount importance to the grower. The flower watch initiative benchmarks grower from other growers and varieties from other varieties. It is the first concept of creating brands for the flower industry. Growers can use the vase life results for their marketing and improving their quality checks. Early this year, Flower Watch carried a study in 20 different farms from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia. During the study, they picked on 2 to 4 different varieties from each farm and with everything else constant, tested on the vase life of the different varieties.

It is not gainsaying that benchmarking on the same variety, some farms performed far much better than others. Additionally, picked from the same farm and with everything else constant, some varieties performed better than others. This gave both the growers and breeders an overview of their brands.

What can this mean? Flower Watch been an independent and professional, the results will be well interpreted and a grower will be able to:

Know his own performance

Know variety characteristics e.g. ethylene sensitivity

Know the effect of opening stages on flower life.

Benchmark against industry standards

Consistency of his production systems hence set the right systems in the farm and the whole supply chain.

Choose the right variety

Audit their systems before conclusion of the variety performance

Analyse post harvest characteristics and improve the procedures where necessary.

Use the right post harvest treatment.

Retailers Retailers would like to improve the volumes sold and command respect for their quality supply. So any form of quality reduction will affect them negatively. This has drawn them to demand product specification and supply chain criteria as part of their purchase contract. This will command more respect if the vase life test has been done by an independent professional and confirm to the consumers they are buying the right flowers.

Conclusion Quality production and supply of flowers to the market will impact positively not only to the grower and breeder but also upon other stakeholder groups beyond the consumer.

The very best employees will be attracted to growers with high profile and esteemed brands. In addition, it has been proved that employees working for such brands are considerably more positive about their employers and twice as more likely to recommend them. They are also more likely to feel proud of their end product and tend to be more attached to it.

Additionally Kenya as a country will have the last laugh and that is why the industry regulators must demand nothing less than quality production and export of flowers. With Kenyan flowers been ranked the best due to the quality brands, it will be a revelation of the potency of the sector.

The country will be more likely to attract more foreign direct investors and the current investors will feel more confident to plough back into the sector. Equally, the perceived quality of these brands-e.g. innovation, efficiency, and effectiveness will be applied by consumers to Brand Kenya. This goes to create goodwill for the country and stimulates tourism as buyers and other stakeholders visit hence inward investment.

Finally, quality flowers will generate wealth not just to the exporters but also suppliers, surrounding community, employees and the country