Bulgarian Empire

Chapter 66: Rose Oil and Development Zone

Kazanlk Rose Valley, 30 kilometers northeast of downtown, has an average altitude of 200-400 meters, making it the best place in the world for roses to grow, without a doubt.

The finest Damask roses grow here, and the warm, moist air from the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea that comes from the east and the Balkan Mountains to the west shield the colder air from the north. It was causing the contrast between the morning and evening temperatures to be somewhat greater than in the center of the Rose Valley.

However, the petals of Damask roses contain almost no wax. What does the fragrance of the rose have to be protected?

To protect the fragrance molecules from the sun's rays and prevent them from evaporating with moisture, the natural environment with a wider temperature difference between morning and evening creates more morning dew than ever for the roses in the morning.

The more morning dew there is, the more it protects the fragrance of the roses from being lost, so this area has always produced the finest rose oil in the world.

The demand for labor to process rose oil is huge. Other than the large number of workers needed for processing, the demand for the number of flower farmers is really huge.

Roses are pretty fragile, and the best time to pick them is every morning from 8 am-10 am, the only time to collect the best quality roses.

After the roses are packed and sealed to prevent the fragrance from evaporating, they are sent to the factory, where the centuries-old distillation method is used to process the rose oil.

As he looked at the data he had compiled, Franz's headache grew the more he read. Rose farming is truly intensive work. Each acre needs at least two to three experienced flower farmers to pick.

It takes more than ten tons of high-quality rose petals to extract one kilogram of the best quality rose essential oil. That is even after the use of new processes. The yield of second-rate essential oil is not much higher. (Even now, it takes three to five thousand pounds to extract a kilogram)

Franz made a rough calculation. The current yield of roses is only three to four hundred kilograms per Mu to extract even a kilogram of ordinary rose essential oil and at least fifteen acres of land planted. (1 Mu = 0.165 acre, or 666.5 m)

If one calculates the capacity of each harvest, one thousand kilograms of essential oil, it is 15,000 mu. It doesn't look like much, and if it was planting ordinary crops, it could be done by dozens of people using mechanized operations.

However, if one grows roses, one needs 30,000 to 40,000 flower farmers alone. Unlike the future, the harvesting of roses in this era cannot go wrong at all. Otherwise, it will emit the fragrance, and no oil will be extracted.

The real headache for Franz is that the flower farmers are only in such high demand at the time of the annual harvest. Usually, they simply don't need that much manpower.

It means that manpower is greatly wasted if there are so many workers in the long term. If the workers are hired for a short period, where can we find so many experienced workers?

Rose oil is also known to be profitable, yet Bulgaria still does not produce large-scale processing companies. It means that in the short term, they will not build up rose industrial plants.

"Should we split up the processing plant? To set up a decentralized small factory?" As he thought about it, Franz shook his head again. If this is the way to do it, then rose oil processing becomes fodder.

There was no choice but for Franz to honestly explain the case to Ferdinand.

After hearing Franz's reason, Ferdinand also had a great dilemma that the 19th century differed from later times.

In later times, farmers can be handed over to decentralized planting before assembling and processing. Anyway, there is transport by truck, which takes little effort for a few hundred kilometers. Moreover, they can use chemical methods to refine, and the loss of a bit of aroma is also affordable.

As for the proposed decentralization plant by Franz, Ferdinand did not even consider it. He spent so much effort, not just to earn a bit of good money.

To solve the problem of labor, it is a solution. There is only one thing that Ferdinand can do to give the flower farmers another stable job. They usually go to work as usual, and only during the harvest season are they sent over to work part-time for a few days.

The brain of Ferdinand began to think of a solution. How about learning from the future to engage in tourism? No! In this day and age, what idiot would come to travel!

"Franz, do you think you can put the flower farmers into our other factories, work as usual and just come over to help during the rose harvests!" Ferdinand thought about it and made a poorly-thought-out suggestion.

"Your Highness, I have also thought about this issue, but now many of our factories are mostly full. Even if we were to resettle them now, it would be futile to do so. We can't take the lead in breaching labor laws and firing workers at will!" Franz said with a bitter smile.

"Then, simply let the workers learn to pick roses ~ ~ this is even less reliable!" Ferdinand rejected it himself before he could finish.

When Ferdinand was also troubled, Franz proposed, "Your Highness, why don't we reduce the scale first? As long as we don't make it so big at once, plus the essential oil processing plant and supporting facilities that it will launch soon, we can still barely settle within 10,000 people!"

Ferdinand suddenly had a flash of light, 'Supporting!'

'That's right, industrial parks, industrial zones!'

With that, Ferdinand smiled and said, "I have an idea!"

Franz looked at Ferdinand with some doubts. A bad feeling came over him. His Highness was not going to make some big move again, right?

Looking at the confused Franz, Ferdinand did not try to push the issue and said with a smile, "Franz, I intend to set up an industrial park. It will be set aside as a direct development zone to help encourage the scattered businesses in the country to come together!"

After Franz heard Ferdinand's words, his face became even more ugly, and it was true. In his mind, he thought: this time, he wanted to use his factory to do the same thing.

The factories that are now on the scale in Bulgaria are basically Ferdinand's properties. Encourage? If the words come from you, can you not do it?

Looking at Franz, whose face changed greatly, Ferdinand also knew that this proposal, a little too far ahead of its time. Even Franz could not understand it, let alone others.

Whether others understand it or not, Ferdinand intends to promote it in Bulgaria. It has been proven in the future that industrial integration is good for fostering industrial innovation.

And the birth of each development zone will drive the local economy and provide a large number of jobs.

Franz asked doubtfully, "Your Highness, right now our factories are scattered all over the place because they are designed to reduce costs and provide easy access to logistics. If we centralize them together, the costs will surely increase! And will this really solve the problems we are facing?"

Ferdinand said in a very positive tone: "Of course! Once the development area is launched, it is the same as building a new city, and the infrastructure alone can provide tens of thousands of jobs. You can now let go and recruit people, then set up a construction company, and you can place a large number of people!"

After listening to Ferdinand's idea, Franz was instantly stunned. There is still this kind of business! It changed Franz's concept. In order to do the processing of rose oil, they actually created a new city. Is this the highest level of using power for personal gain?

...

As Franz was about to leave, Ferdinand added, "By the way, Franz. When you go on your field trip, do you observe where is suitable for the setting up of a development zone, by the way?"