Horticulture exports muster over USD16 million annually and the industry could double that within the next five years to over USD 30 million, Chairman, CEO Serendib Horticulture Technologies, Delip de Silva told its Silver Jubilee celebrations in Colombo recently.
“We have also set up laboratories in Rwanda, Qatar and Iran. This is the first time, a Sri Lankan company has done consultancies in Horticulture overseas. Several Sri Lankan graduates too have gained employment in these overseas ventures,” De Silva said.
Serendib Horticulture Technologies (Pvt) Ltd, celebrated 25 years in exporting floriculture products from Sri Lanka to many countries including Holland, Denmark, Germany, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Rwanda, Qatar and Iran.
The company uses state-of-the-art technology, called plant tissue culture, as the main production mode in the laboratory at Boralesgamuwa.
De Silva said this would be a timely eye opener for a Government in power if it could facilitate such private institutes to develop the agriculture sector in collaboration with the government sector.
He said the inputs for their production were 95% local while only 5% was imported. The company has started a project of growing one million trees for export, giving employment to rural women.
This project has the potential of improving the livelihoods of the rural women and linking them to an export value chain. De Silva said they were exploring avenues to source the funds for the project and these would be used to cater to the huge demand in the Middle East market.
The company was also selected to do a comprehensive feasibility study for the Ministry of Environment in Qatar to establish a regional Biotechnology Center. Subsequently consultancies were carried out in Rwanda and Iran.
At each of these consultancies, local staff was recruited to train foreign staff. Local graduates gained employment in those countries subsequently at the completion of the consultancy. Technology transfer was identified as a source of income through these consultancies.
Global giants such as Dole Inc contracted Serendib Horticulture to produce their requirement of banana and pineapple plants through tissue culture.
Serendib Horticulture also designed and managed an Asian Development Bank-funded laboratory to produce aquatic plants for export in collaboration with the Ministry of Fisheries. At present the company operates its laboratory at Boralesgamuwa producing over two million plants per year only for export. It employs over 50 people from different parts of the country. Due to its efficient management systems, the company has been able to compete in the global market with countries such as China and India.
“On the basis of net turnover per square metre, we have a highly efficient system unmatched in Sri Lanka and many laboratories in the world,” De Silva said.
The company also holds one patent in Europe. This is the only company in Sri Lanka that has a patent in Europe for a floriculture product.
