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Kenya: Flowers Blossom in Time for Valentine
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The East African Standard (Nairobi)
14 February 2008
Posted to the web 13 February 2008
Benson Kathuri And Agencies
Nairobi
Earnings from flower sales jumped 79 per cent to Sh43 billion ($615.6 million) last year, and industry players say that farmers had met targets for this year's Valentine's Day.
Kenyan flowers account for a quarter of Europe's cut flower imports, and growers have been pushing to keep exports up for the occassion despite post-poll violence.
"The year has begun well for the industry going by the January figures. The industry has also met its targets for Valentine's Day and is on course to fulfilling its quota for Mother's Day in Europe and the US," Ms Jane Ngige, chief executive for the Kenya Flower Council (KFC), said on Wednesday during a media briefing.
Those two occasions - Mother's and Valentine's Day - account for between 30 to 40 per cent of annual turnover for the Kenyan farms.
Growers have chartered planes, enlisted police to protect flower-truck convoys and made pleading calls to frightened workers urging them to return. The move seems to be working as European buyers say they haven't seen a shortage of Kenyan roses.
KFC chairman, Mr Erastus Mureithi, said the country is now the largest supplier of cut flowers to the European Union, accounting for 35 per cent of the bloc's imports.
Mureithi said the industry that until last year second to tourism as the leading foreign exchange earner.
"In the last decade, 1997-2007, Kenya's cut flower export earnings grew by more than 300 per cent while the volume of flower exports increased by 140 per cent," Mureithi said.
The council, which represents 70 per cent of Kenya's flower production, said exports rose to 8,495 tonnes in January compared with 7,388 tonnes in the year-ago period.
Naivasha, which grows 60 per cent of Kenya's flowers, was hit last month. Dozens of people were hacked to death and homes were torched in a wave of violence sparked by the post-poll violence.
Flower farms were relatively untouched, but no one showed up to pick the roses and hypericum at Wildfire Flowers the next day, or the day after.
"We had to call them ... tell them now it's OK, you can come back to us," said Ms Ann Mugi, who oversees the warehouse at Wildfire Flowers where flowers are packed for shipping. She tried first by phone, then sent runners out to homes to try in person.
With about two weeks of calm since the attacks, workers have trickled back and flower shipments are getting back on track.
Mr Kabuyah Muito, who takes over the leadership of the KFC, from Mureithi said though most workers who had fled farms due to insecurity had returned, but some areas in the North Rift are still insecure.
It has been difficult just to get the flowers out. Some growers in the in Eldoret have flown flowers to Nairobi or directly to Europe rather than risk impromptu roadblocks. Those that go by road move in daily truck convoys protected by police.
However, Ngige said importers are worried that producers may not be able to meet demand if disruptions continued.
She said poor weather in flower-exporter Israel boosted demand for Kenya's stems. "Our demand was put up. That was a windfall for Kenya."
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"The growth of the economy, which stood at 6.1 per cent during the period under review, and the relative stability of the shilling to the dollar are some of the factors that aided the industry's growth."
The post-election crisis has cost the industry about $8.5 million in projected lost sales, said Mr Stephen Mbithi, of Kenya's Fresh Produce Exporters Association. He added, however, that this is a tiny fraction of yearly revenue, and that shipping problems have been resolved. On average, farms are operating with about 80 per cent of workers, according to KFC. The industry normally employs about 100,000 people to export about 97,000 tonnes of flowers a year.
Faced with staff shortages, growers called on those who have returned to put in longer days to meet Valentine's Day.
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