By Maribel Arenas Vadillo |
Bogotá (EFE).- For the Colombian flower industry, Valentine’s Day is one of the star seasons when it comes to exporting millions of flowers harvested in greenhouses to more than 100 countries where they are no longer just “entangled” and “unbutton” Colombian but also Venezuelan hands.
The celebration of Valentine’s Day represents 15% of Colombia’s annual flower exports, which amount to 5,700 million stems destined mainly for the United States, Japan, Canada and the Netherlands, according to the Colombian Association of Flower Exporters (Asocolflores).
Between January and February 2022, the period that covers Valentine’s Day, Colombia exported nearly 890 million flowers, according to the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE), which generates thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in foreign currency for the country. country.
Migrants in the greenhouses
Jennifer Hernández is one of the nearly 40 Venezuelan workers who move between the “beds” of carnations in module 4a of “Flores La Aldea”, a farm located in Sesquilé, a municipality near Bogotá.
Dressed in a light brown suit whose sleeves reveal gloves dyed by the rice husk that forms the substrate for the more than 38 varieties of carnations on the farm, Hernández, a native of Maracaibo, celebrates the labor formality that this company gave her years ago. eight months.
In this sense, Asocolflores points out that the sector annually generates 200,000 direct and indirect jobs. 60% of the directors are occupied by women, mostly heads of families.
For his part, the farm’s manager of new projects and infrastructure development, Fernando Peña, explained to EFE that labor formality is essential to obtain national and international seals such as “Rainforest” or “Global Gap” that allow them to enter markets like the Japanese or the British.
«When you are regulated by some stamps whose main function is the social, labor and human part, and the Government says ‘the Venezuelan gentlemen are normalized’, what is the problem (in hiring them)? We have to help because if we don’t help the businessmen, who helps?” adds Peña.
Adaptation process
A teacher and lover of cooking, Hernández arrived in Colombia eight years ago, after “hotel companies and food fairs” began to close in her city; “tourists stopped coming” and businesses “began to liquidate people.”
“Everything fades because you have to leave everything and sell to be able to stabilize here,” lamented the new flower grower.
Although Hernández assures that “this company is a good” employer, he agrees with his colleague Militza Ríos that it is “very hard” work where the eight-hour day is done standing and walking between the beds, cutting the flowers and measuring the stems to adapt them to the “standard” (shorter), “fancy” (medium) or “select” (longer) lengths.
“At first, it hit me hard. I said, my God, why did this life happen to me here? Then I began to show love and interest and I liked it”, says Ríos, who has worked on the farm for more than two years.
Convinced that she likes her job, Ríos assures that this job that welcomes and provides stability to hundreds of Venezuelan migrants, even represents therapy and relief for her as she converses with flowers.
Flowers and the sustainable industry
On a 17-hectare property with two solar energy projects of 96 and 38 kilowatts that cover 75% of its needs, a rainwater reuse program and dozens of blocks in different phases of the carnation growth process, the importance of maintenance employees, it is also essential to achieve the highest product quality.
It is in this area that William Calles, a native of the state of Zulia, has been employed for three months and after having gone through other sectors such as construction.
“We left to emigrate from our country and, thanks to flowers, we can help our families and maintain stability,” said Calles, grateful for the opportunities offered by an industry that every February brings millions of carnations to lovers around the world. , roses, chrysanthemums or astromelias, recognized for their quality, durability and beauty.
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