“Say it with flowers” – please! That is the message from growers the world over in the lead up to this year’s Valentine’s day.

Traditionally the festival when love is declared in a bunch of blooms, sales around February 14 is the multi-billion euro industry’s peak time, but this year, romance appears not to be recession proof. Flower growing farm manager, Carolina Estrada said: “ We are frightened because we have felt that demand has dropped. We calculate that in total demand will be down by 30 percent. Because of the situation, people do not have money to buy flowers.” In Columbia, more than 200,000 people are employed in the world’s second biggest exporter after the Netherlands. But from Ecuador to Ethiopia, flower workers are banking on romance triumphing over the economic gloom and and hoping that Cupid has not been made redundant.More about: Valentin’s day

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