The road behind Government House is usually closed to the general public, with no less than three guards keeping a close watch on who passes through its entrance. Two weeks ago the thoroughfare was thrown open to people from all walks of life and transformed into a marketplace for orchids, with the prime minister himself presiding over the opening ceremony on Jan 19.
Jumbo display: Dendrobium orchids decorate a woven elephant at the entrance to the orchid market behind Government House.
Originally planned to run for three days, and to be staged periodically until March, the orchid market is instead being held continuously until the end of February. Orchid lovers will be having a field day for one more month, as the organisers promise that growers and exporters will bring only the highest quality produce to the market. The road runs parallel to Phadung Krung Kasem canal, opposite Wat Somanas Ratchaworawiharn on Krung Kasem Road.
Open daily from 9am to 6pm, the orchid market was organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and the Secretariat of the Prime Minister’s Office to help growers sell their plants and flowers. Numerous orchid farms were washed out during the country’s worst floods that submerged many provinces, including Bangkok, for several months in 2011. However, growers recovered in just two years, thanks to generous compensation from the government, which recognised the role that orchids play in earning foreign income for the country.
“Right after the floods, orchids were expensive and in such short supply that exporters were even buying flowers that were not up to standard to fill orders,” said Narong Karndamri, founder of an orchid growers’ cooperative in Samut Sakhon province. “The growers recovered in no time, but in September, October and November last year, there was so much supply that the flowers could only fetch 20 baht a kilogramme.”
The orchid growers’ recovery came at a time when traditional importers of Thai orchids, like China, Japan, the Netherlands, France and Belgium, were tightening their belts due to economic recession. This, coupled with Thailand’s own political instability last year, resulted in lower earnings from cut flowers. From January to November last year, Thailand exported 1.77 billion baht worth of orchids, down by 3% from about two billion baht for the same period the previous year.
Concerned by the loss in revenue, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is planning to hold orchid fairs in China, Laos, India and Brunei this year to boost international awareness of Thai orchids. Also in the pipeline is a central orchid market at Chatuchak’s Or Tor Kor market, which is run by the Marketing Organisation for Farmers. This will facilitate both retail and wholesale orchid trading.
However, the main concern facing growers along the Ta Chin River at the moment is not finding foreign markets for their flowers, but the salty water coming up the river from the sea. Chlorinated water is detrimental to orchids, so growers depend on canals and rivers as sources of water for their plants. A week of salty water is enough to kill them.
Thai orchids need no further introduction, since the country has long been the leading producer and exporter of tropical orchids in the world. The kingdom is well-known for its wide diversity of orchids, both native and hybrids, with growers continuously developing new varieties to add to the hundreds of species and hybrids already being grown here.
Take Dendrobium for example. For many years the “Madame Pompadour” was Thailand’s main cut flower export, captivating the world with its purple colour. Today, it answers to different names as it comes in a wide range of colours, from pure white to various shades of pink, peach, purple and violet. Some varieties have light pink or deep purple flowers with white stripes, and I won’t be surprised if many more hues and colour combinations will be developed in the coming years.
The government-sponsored orchid market is not big, but the latest hybrids of Dendrobium orchids were among the cut flowers on display when I went to check it out last week. Kampon Thamani, 52, and his friend, So Pongwarut, 34, are both blind, but this did not stop them from admiring the flowers by touching them. But it was their sense of smell that led them to the wide selection of Rhynchostylis hybrids and native species from Nakhon Pathom, whose heavenly fragrance are only rivalled by their beauty. Also on display and sale were Aranda, Ascocentrum, Cattleya, Mokara, Phalaenopsis and Vanda orchids, among others.
You will find more orchids, as well as fruit tree saplings and other ornamental plants, at the annual agricultural fair being held today until Saturday on the campus of Kasetsart University in Bang Khen. n
Email nthongtham@gmail.com.
