Business
EA’s flowering exports nipped in the bud
A worker at a flower farm in Kenya packs roses for export to Europe. Governments and players in the horticulture industry are crafting new interventions to help the sector stay afloat. Photo/FILE
Broken dreams. Shattered hopes. Fragile livelihoods.
This is the scenario facing flower exporters in East Africa who are in a desperate move to save the multibillion-shilling sector from collapse owing to the global financial crisis.
The crisis has dealt a major blow, not just to the region’s most established exporter — Kenya — but to the other countries that are developing their respective industries.
Billions of dollars invested in the flower industry by regional governments and donors could go down the drain; and millions of jobs are being lost.
This has prompted governments and players to craft interventions to help the sector stay afloat.
The new kid on the block, Rwanda, which until early this year was upbeat, is now cautious.
It had been looking up to Kenya and Ethiopia as icons but is now failing to attract investors despite offering a very good deal.
In January, the Rwanda Flowers Association sent 20 farmers for a three-month training course in Naivasha, Kenya, with high expectations that skills learnt would give its sector new impetus.
The Minister of State in charge of Industry and Investment Promotion, Vincent Karega, termed the exercise an investment to increase local production and add value to the flowers.
Rwanda’s climate is ideal for flower growing. The country hoped to match the success of Kenya and Ethiopia.
It was encouraged by steady development of the young industry, which over the past four years registered 3,600 farmers with 42 hectares under flowers.
Although the sector has been identified as a priority area for export development, there is limited interest and investment.
The government has set aside about 200 hectares of land for a Flower Park in Gishari Rwamagana district, but very few investors have shown interest, with only 50 hectares occupied.
The Rwanda Horticulture Development Authority (Rhoda) says the project was expected to produce 60 million stems initially, rising to 100 million stems every year.
This is now becoming a tall order.
