Floods, climate change challenge Thailand's orchid export success

At Excel Orchid Farm in Ratchaburi province, one of the largest orchid nurseries in Thailand, Piyada Sanguthai says global warming and climate change is already having an affect on Thailand's orchid production. 

“The changing weather patterns are pushing the crops out of their ideal humidity and temperature ranges for optimal growth and also resulting in an increase in crop-damaging insects. We try and use the minimal amount of pesticide as possible, but the increase in insects has forced us to increase the frequency with which we treat the plants.”

With much of Thailand still recovering from the recent raging flood waters, and Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University forecasting the country will experience the metrological phenomena La Nina this year, orchid growers are keeping a nervous eye on the situation to ensure the county’s prized blooms remain unaffected.

In 2009 exports of Thailand’s tropical orchids topped more than US$80 million (2.5 billion baht), with more than 24,000 metric tons of cut orchid flowers and more than 30,000 pellets/units of live orchid plants being shipped out of the kingdom -- 77 percent of all exported Thai floricultural products. 

At Excel, like most of Thailand’s commercial orchid nurseries, the delicate and beautiful blooms are grown on old coconut husks sitting atop simple wooden platforms above the ground, their delicate velamen-covered roots dangling in a contorted fashion towards the ground, safe from any flood waters barring something on a biblical scale. 

In Pattaya though, the situation is different.

Siriporn Pongsang is owner of Siriporn Orchids, a smaller boutique-style orchid nursery that supplies flowers for local consumption and also opens for tourists interested in viewing and buying a wide variety of orchid species.

While many of the orchids at Siriporn Orchids are also grown in coconut husks on simple wooden shelves, many taller species are grown on the ground.  Siriporn says the colder than usual weather this year, along with heavier than usual rainfall, is a concern, delivering the plants too much water and delaying the blooming season. 

“It’s been very wet and cold this year and that has meant we’ve had to take steps to increase drainage to protect the plants’ roots. Many people are not aware that orchids need only a small amount of water to bloom and too much water or cold weather can hurt them a lot,” she says. 

Northern orchid farms brace for winter chill

While the prime blooming season for most Thailand orchids is August, in the northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai where native wild orchids have carved a particular reputation with orchid fanciers the world over due to the range of species and delicate, multi-hued blooms, the peak blooming season is traditionally during the cooler and wetter winter month of January. 

Researchers predict La Nina will cause a temperature drop of about two degrees celcius -- primarily affecting the northern provinces -- and the region's unique and delicate wild orchids are expected to bloom slightly later next year, though the cooler weather is also expected to see the blooming period last longer. 

According to Dr. Setapong Lekawatana, director of Flower and Ornamental Plant Production Promotion Group in Thailand's Department of Agricultural Extension, more than 3,500ha (about 8,600 acres) of land is used throughout the kingdom for orchid cultivation, with about 54 percent of the crop being for export and the balance for local consumption. 

Setapong says the majority of the commercial orchid industry is located in and around Bangkok, with major nurseries in Chon Buri, Nonthaburi, Saphan Buri, Samut Sakhon, Ratchaburi, Kanchanaburi, Pathum Thani, and Ayutthaya. 

“The way orchids are commercially grown in Thailand, on wooden platforms above the ground, means they are largely unaffected by heavy rain, though cold weather and increased insect populations caused by global warming and changes in temperature and humidity are starting to be noticed,” he says.

According to Setapong, the most dominant crop grown in the kingdom for export is Dendrobium, which is particularly hardy, with Mokara, Oncidium, Aranthera, Aranda, Vanda, Arachnis, Renanthera, Ascocenda, Phalaenopsis, Cattleya and Paphiopedilum also grown in significant quantities for sale as cut-flowers and potted plants.  

At Excel Orchid farm the major species grown is Dendrobium, with a wide range of colors and species having been developed over the years. Piyada says the wet weather being experienced in some parts of the country has not affected their shipments, with international customers continuing to enjoy a vase life of 10 to 12 days after arrival for standard varieties and at least 15 to 17 days for their premium varieties. 

A threat greater than mother nature

With more than 1,300 documented species Thailand is the largest exporter of tropical orchids in the world and second overall to the Netherlands, which specializes in temperate species.

Though the last two years has seen a slight reduction in the quantity of Thai orchid exports due to the global economic climate, Piyada says this was being somewhat countered by increasing demand in new and emerging markets including China, India and Russia. 

But with thousands of people a year visiting Thailand to view the intricate shapes, sizes, colors and hues that range from pastel pinks and soft blues through to vibrant yellows and deep reds, a greater threat exists than climatic change -- that of unscrupulous breeders and fanciers. 

Some will stop at nothing to get their hands on unique Thai orchid species. Smuggling and theft from the wild has grown to such a problem that the Thailand government has enacted strict regulations prohibiting the sale, trade and export of wild Thai orchids. 

The threat of species becoming extinct as a result of illegal removal is so great that often when a new species or variety is discovered in the wild it is documented, confirmed and reported to the Orchid Society of Thailand. All details of who discovered them and their location expunged from any public or private record. 

Environmental and human threats aside, orchid production in Thailand has come a long way from its roots as a fledgling industry that owes it’s beginnings to an unnamed foreigner working in the kingdom who introduced exotic root stock back in 1913. 

The now quintessentially Thai flower captured the attention of the royal family via His Royal Highness Prince Paripatra Sukhumbhand, his enthusiasm eventually spreading to the general population.   

Click ahead for photos of Thai orchid farms.