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Blue Butterfly -Your Local Florist
The sight of fresh flowers at any shop evokes,
by sight and smell, a range of memories and

emotions with the promise of happy
possibilities that often makes buying a bunch
of fresh flowers almost irresistible.

The availability of fresh flowers in your local small florist is
often a more complex issue than most people realize.
Flowers are grown on farms across the world, and many are grown
on the African Continent from South Africa to Zimbabwe, Kenya to Rwanda and in as
unlikely and distant countries like Ethiopia! An estimated 60% of the flowers produced in
Africa are packed and sent by airfreight to Multiflora in South Africa, a massive 50 000m2
covered storage and auction house facility located in Johannesburg. Approximately 1 000
000 flower stems from about 600 flower growers are auctioned off within a few hours each
day Mondays to Saturdays and are generally sold to major agents and wholesale buyers who
then distribute these flowers globally and locally. The auction itself is ‘market driven’ which
means that the price of flowers will vary at each auction and from day to day depending on
supply and demand. The flower agents and wholesale buyers will distribute these flowers on
order to other local or international flower markets, chain stores and smaller florists.
Flowers destined for overseas markets are again sent by airfreight, but this is often
prohibitively expensive for our local markets and many distributors in Southern Africa
rely on refrigerated road transport or overnight courier services to send and receive fresh
flowers. The Blue Butterfly Nursery in Maun offers a fresh flower service, and our flowers
are ordered a week in advance with a local agent who travels to Johannesburg every week
to buy and collect flower orders for several Florists in Botswana. These flowers are then
transported to Botswana by road and imported with the relevant Phytosanitary Certificates
and Permits, before being couriered to various Florists around Botswana - a process that is
more often than not a race against time and heat! This long flower journey starts at a remote
flower farm and ends with flowers for you to enjoy from your local florist!

The Covid-19 pandemic is not only proving to be devastating in term of lives lost but also
in terms of affecting businesses like flower growers, among many others. Flower farming is
incredibly labour intensive and many of these farms will be unable to sustain the required
maintenance, never mind production, that will ensure flower supply in the near future.
by Petra Strydom

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