Growers in the Russian resion of Penza have set up a new rose growing operation with the advice of a Dutchman.

They started eight years ago with two square kilometres of growing area. By the year 2010 it will occupy 300 hectares and the harvest will grow from today’s 30,000 flowers to 200,000 per day.

Russia is looking to the considerable financial gain they can make, due to the enormous profitability of the flower business. Some people will always be buying flowers, with statistics showing they’re spending hundreds of dollars each year on the latest bouquets.

Bunches are sent to a number of Russia’s big cities - from Chelyabinsk to Moscow and St Petersburg, and are also sent to the country’s closest neighbours.

But head of sales Svetlana Potyemina says the main aim is to corner the European market.

The world’s current top producers are Ecuador. “First we can squeeze them out of Russia’s markets and then go to conquer their own”, Potyemina says. With so much concern for green sourcing of goods we will be buying from a nearer market and saving pollution.