Cebu City Readies 1.5M Flowers for Other PHL Areas for All Saints’ Day, All Souls’ Day

Cutflower farmers in Cebu City’s 12 upland villages are ready to supply some 1.5 million assorted flowers to other parts of the country during All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, an official said.

Cebu City Agriculturist Joelito Baclayon said the farmers have started harvesting their flowers for Nov. 1 and 2.

The flowers in the city are grown in some 600 hectares of land in Busay, Bonbon, Babag, Buot, Pung-ol Sibugay, Sirao, Malubog, Taptap, Tabunan, Tagbao, Guba and Sudlon II.

These mountain villages hass cooler climate which is conducive to cutflower growing.

Baclayon said the flowers will be delivered not only to markets in the city but also to Manila, Tacloban, Iloilo, Tagbilaran and Bacolod, among many others.

He said the bulk of the flowers will be delivered to Luzon, where the supply of flowers dropped after typhoon Lando hit the area last week.

The flowers grown in the mountain barangays include mums and chrysanthemums, roses, anthuriums, vandas, gerbera, gladiola, orchids and celosias, or Sinulog flowers, said Baclayon.

Chrysanthemums and mums account for 70 percent of the flowers the city produces, followed by roses at 25 percent, he said.

Baclayon said the farmers are expected to earn at least PHP150 million during the holiday. (PNA) LAP/EB/EDS