Enhancing the Operation Management Capabilities of Agricultural Production and Marketing Groups to Overcome the Domestic Sales: Dilemma of the Anthurium Industry

Hsieh, Ming Ya（China Productivity Center Agriculture Management Department）

To respond to the changing market trends and cope with the drastic climate change, farmers are encouraged to organize the agricultural production and marketing groups in a bid to leverage the collective strength to reduce farming costs and risks while enhancing the business benefits. Furthermore, it is hoped to support farmers or agricultural production and marketing groups in being transformed into agribusiness enterprises, thereby improving their adaptability, negotiation skills, and bargaining power in the market. However, the transformation from the agricultural production and marketing groups to the agribusiness enterprises poses challenges to farmers in terms of funding, organizational system, farmer insurance, taxes and employment of managers. Therefore, it becomes an essential task for farmers’ groups to provide guidance and training to farmers or agricultural production and marketing groups, follow the principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) and foster consensus among members based on cooperation, quality.

Innovative Business Model for the Agricultural Production and Marketing Groups

The 5th Floricultural Production and Marketing Group of Neimen District, Kaohsiung City is located within the anthurium production area, mainly engaged in cultivating anthurium cut flowers with a planting area covering 15 hectares. The annual production reaches approximately 3.5 million stems, with around 50% being exported. However, the export market is faced with the dilemma, such as monopolization by trading companies and downward pressure on purchase prices. In the domestic market, the wholesale prices show a declining trend due to lower usage of anthurium cut flowers in home decoration by consumers. The group leader (currently the chairman of Taiwan Anthurium Industry Development Association) proactively cooperates with temples and promotes the anthurium industry through the innovative business model, with an aim to create new consumer demands and stimulate domestic market demand, thereby enhancing overall income for flower farmers.

Cooperation with Temples to Reduce Incense Use

Following the discussions among consultants and group members, the group put forward a proposal to align with the recent trend of reducing air pollution through the "Reduce Incense Use" initiative. Based on the principles of cooperation and quality, the characteristics of anthurium such as diverse colors, durability during transportation and storage, and year-round flowering are leveraged and highlighted. Furthermore, the group conducted online questionnaire survey and sent promotional materials to temples to introduce anthurium as a medium for blessings in temples. The questionnaire survey results revealed that the general public would use flowers for home decoration or on specific occasions (such as visiting friends or relatives or special holidays). Thus, to promote the use of flowers in place of incense in traditional temples, the cooperation and demonstration of the temples are required to break away from the conventional practices.

Conclusion

At present, the agricultural production and marketing groups continue to build consensus and work with other anthurium farmers to form collaborative clusters and jointly promote the development of the anthurium market, as well as to care for local farmers together with consumers. When we asked the above-mentioned group leader about his visionary change, the leader said that he believed that commercialization and enterprise management are crucial changes to break through the current state of agriculture. It is evident that agricultural production and marketing groups possess the capability and mindset for operation management, making it a vital skill for continuously overcoming the industry challenges.