CAMERON Highlands’ RM500 million flower industry is in danger of making huge losses due to conflicting rules issued under an enhanced movement control order (EMCO), said industry players.

The flower growers told The Malaysian Insight they were permitted to work on their farms on June 13 but had to stop work from June 14 to 27 when Cameron Highlands was placed under the EMCO

Since the country went into lockdown on June 1, flower growers said they have had to throw away millions of ringgit worth of crops daily.

Floriculture is not among the 17 essential service sectors allowed to operate during the lockdown.

On June 12, Human Resources Minister M. Saravanan said the flower growing sector may operate as usual from June 13 after listening to the farmers.

He urged the flower farmers to contact the local Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry office to enquire about the standard operating procedure (SOP) for resuming operations.

However, on the same day, Senior Minister Ismail Sabri announced a two-week EMCO will be enforced in five areas in Cameron Highlands: Sungai Ikan, Blue Valley, Taman Matahari Cerah, Taman Desa Corina and Kampung Baru.

Cameron Highlands Indian Farmers Association president Mathan Subramaniam said the EMCO affected vegetable and flower growers.

“After the government implemented the total lockdown, flower shops were barred from operating,” Mathan said.

“Flower growers in Cameron Highlands have had to discard their flowers every day. They have already lost millions of ringgit.

“And when the flower shops were finally allowed to operate, the EMCO was suddenly imposed.”

He urged the government to allow at least two workers on each farm.

Cameron Highlands was the site of the Flora Blue Valley Covid-19 workplace cluster of 22 cases. The index case was a foreign worker who was a florist.  

Parveen Kumar Mohan, 31, has been growing flowers for 13 years.

His family runs a five-hectare farm in the Blue Valley.

“We were happy about the announcement for the florists to reopen. However, the EMCO announcement meant we were forced to discard flowers and vegetables again,” Parveen said.

Sixty percent of his land is used for planting vegetables such as corn, eggplant, French beans, cabbage and chilli. 

“In the past, we shipped about 150 bundles of flowers and RM4,000-5,000 worth of vegetables daily, depending on the harvest.

About 97% of flowers cultivated in Cameron Highlands are exported to 18 countries.

Parveen said the vegetables are sold to middlemen.

He said since the start of the Covid crisis in March last year, farmers in Cameron Highland had not received any government assistance

Cameron Highlands Floriculturist Association president Lee Peng Fo said Cameron Highlands flower farmers discarded 150 boxes of flowers every day worth nearly RM2 million every month.

“Flowers grown in Cameron such as baby’s breath, various chrysanthemums and roses are distributed all over Malaysia and are also exported to Singapore, Thailand and Japan in an industry worth RM500 million.

“With the borders of several countries still closed, the export volume has decreased by 40%.”

Lee said the flowers harvested daily are now used as fertilisers as they cannot be sold.

“The government said it would provide subsidies to flower growers in MCO 1.0 last March but there has been no news since.

“This time for MCO 3.0, we are once again asked to submit the list of affected flower growers. We are doubtful the government will really help us.”

Last year, Lee told The Malaysian Insight many flower farmers had set aside part of the flower garden to grow vegetables to offset losses. – June 17, 2021.`