Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)
Issayas Mekuria
11 February 2008
Sher Ethoipia Plc, a company established by Dutch investors, constructed a 200hct greenhouse for flower and vegetable development at a cost of 40 million euros (540 million Br). The company has started leasing this greenhouse constructed outside Ziway, 163Km south of Addis Abeba, with 20 partitions to local investors interested to grow flowers and vegetables.
"This is a landmark for the industry as it will be of great help to local investors that afford to construct greenhouses and buy seeds at once," Tsegaye Abebe, president of Ethiopian Flower and Horticulture Producers and Exporters Association, told Fortune.
Sher began constructing the greenhouse in late 2005 receiving the state-owned agricultural plot from the Oromia Regional State Administration. According to the Chairman, it needs an additional 18 months to cover a total 500hct of plot with greenhouses.
The construction and supply of machineries for the Ziway greenhouse was made by Belgian VERMAKO and Israeli AZROM. Its water supply facilities were installed by the Dutch company, ATS.
Meskel Flower Plc, the first company to engage in flower farming in Ethiopia, has so far leased a portion of land at the greenhouse. Other companies like Experience and Prince Vegetable also have commenced growing vegetables in the greenhouse leasing plots from Sher.
Sher collects lease payments from such companies for eight consecutive years and afterwards the plots will be transferred to the companies themselves.
Gerrit declined to divulge the lease prices of the plots. However, according to sources, the lease price per square metre ranges from 0.55 to 0.70 euros (7.43-9.45 Br).
"As we have several lease orders from investors that are captivated by the greenhouse, we will begin another construction even bigger than this," Gerrit Barnhoorn, chairman of Sher Ethiopia, told Fortune.
After the Ethiopian government formulated a policy in 2003 to encourage investors focusing on export, flower farming has been among the priority sectors.
With 72 local and foreign investors engaged in the sector, over 1,000hct of land has been cultivated until November 2007, of which 860hct is covered with a greenhouses.
Of the 1.18 billion dollar total revenue Ethiopia generated last fiscal year from exports, 100 million dollars was fetched from floriculture. In the 2007/08 fiscal year, the country has envisaged to double the revenue from the export of flower.
Accordingly, the Amhara Regional State has parcelled 700hct in Bahir Dar to grant to flower investors free of lease. This, compounding with flower farms in the Oromia and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' regional states, is expected to boost the export revenue.
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