FILE PHOTO: An employee cuts flowers inside a greenhouse, ahead of Valentine's Day, at the Eclipse Flowers farm, in Tocancipa, Colombia January 30, 2023. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez
Colombia's flower industry is struggling to contend with an aging workforce as youth shun the industry in favor of jobs elsewhere, stifling productivity, industry sources said.
Flower producers need an extra 20,000 workers at busy times of the year, such as St. Valentine's Day, Augusto Solano, president of the flower producers association, told Reuters.
FILE PHOTO: Cut roses to be exported abroad are seen at the Eclipse Flowers farm ahead of Valentine's Day, in Tocancipa, Colombia January 30, 2023. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez
Attracting young workers to the industry is a challenge, bosses and workers told Reuters.
In some cases, retired flower pickers - such as grandmother Blanca Isabel Gutierrez - are rehired as seasonal workers amid staffing shortages.
"The youth don't want to work in flower (production)," she told Reuters.
FILE PHOTO: An employee of Eclipse Flowers prepares flower bouquets to be exported overseas ahead of Valentine's Day, at the Eclipse Flowers farm, in Tocancipa, Colombia January 30, 2023. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez
(Reporting by Javier Andres Rojas; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
FILE PHOTO: Eclipse Flowers employees work in the post-harvest area of flowers that will be exported, ahead of Valentine's Day, at the Eclipse Flowers farm, in Tocancipa, Colombia January 30, 2023. REUTERS/Luisa GonzalezFILE PHOTO: Cut flowers to be exported abroad are seen at the Eclipse Flowers farm ahead of Valentine's Day, in Tocancipa, Colombia January 30, 2023. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez
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