The cut flower industry in Zimbabwe: The case of WH faida flowers farm in manicaland province, during 2008 - 2009 season

This study investigated the factors affecting local and international marketing of rose varieties (romeo, ensemble, summer filed and orchestra)produced in Manic land Province of Zimbabwe during the 2008-2009 period. A case study using the WH FAEDA Flowers Farm as a producer and marketer of roses to the two markets. Three surveys were conducted one for the workers at the Farm (from a sample of   30 workers of the Farm,   consisting of  cutters, strippers,  bunchers, graders, quality controllers and  supervisors /managers).  The second sample was made up of  key informants of local buyers (wholesalers/retailers and vendors). The third sample came from workets at SPEC, the marketing agent overseas based at the Harare International Airport.         Secondary data was also collected from farm records. A regression analysis and other tests of, autocorrelation, significance and co linearity were conducted. The findings of this research revealed that fluctuations of customers` incomes locally,  those of rose price  and  those of the exchange rates of the US Dollar and Euro coupled with high marketing costs in the market,     affected the local and export marketing of rose varieties at WH FAEDA.  Customers` incomes and price of roses affected the marketing of roses to a greater extent. These factors were also indicators of recession then. This means that there was a correlation between the world economic recession and the demand for flowers as indicated by demand fluctuations during this period. The results also showed that global and local economic factors affected the marketing of roses. A comparison of the local and export sales showed that the local market constituted only 3% of the total sales whilst the international market constituted 97%.  The results also showed that demand for flowers in Europe is high in  winter  (Zimbabwean summer) when the production of flowers is low and European growers can not satisfy the demand. Highest sales were experienced in February during Valentines time.