Category: Featured Articles (May – June 2015)

Aims At 1 Billion Dollars

The target for Tanzania’s horticultural industry is to hit an annual export value of 1 billion US Dollars in 2018 and almost double it in the following two years to reach 1.85 billion Dollars by 2020, says Jacqueline Mkindi, CEO of the Tanzania Horticultural Association (TAHA).

“Horticulture has grown in leaps and bounds – from northern Tanzania to southern highlands as well as Zanzibar. With an enabling environment and massive involvement of mostly women and youth farming at the moment, only the sky is the limit”, Mkindi believes.

The Taha-CEO recently received the prestigious Tanzanian Women Achievement Award (TWAA) for 2015, Agriculture Category. Over the past decade, Mkindi often moved between farms and boardrooms in her quest to persuade not only farmers, but also technocrats that horticulture was, indeed, a green gold in disguise.

UK’s Tesco posts largest-ever loss of 6.3bn: Test Tesco has reported the worst results in its history with a record statutory pre-tax loss of £6.4bn for the year to the end of February.. That compares with annual pre-tax profit of £2.26bn a year earlier. It is the biggest loss suffered by a UK retailer and one of the largest in the country’s corporate history. Around £4.7bn of the losses were the result of the fall in property value of its UK stores, 43 of which it said would close earlier this month.

All of the management positions in flower business contribute to the overall success of the operation. Perhaps none has a more direct hand in the ultimate quality of the company’s product, however, than the head grower. It’s a position that has evolved over time from skilled plants man to grower, trainer, communicator, business manager and leader.

TETE-A-TETE
WITH THE TECHNICAL SALES MANAGER DOW AGROSCIENCES

Looking back over the past twenty four months Oscar shilliebo technical sales manager Dow Agrosciences, is proud of the company’s per formance even though it has been exceptionally difficult year all round in the industry. With the next year underway and plenty of strategic plans in place, Shilliebo looks on with anticipation to the next twelve months.

Some years back, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) had become a buzzword in the floriculture industry. It was the ideal concept to subscribe to and everyone ached to be seen either as an adopter or advocate of IPM. Nevertheless, beyond the hype, we have witnessed positive progress in the manner which Kenyan flower growers are implementing IPM measures in their pest control programs. However, it is still not exactly clear to some people what really constitutes IPM. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) defines IPM as “the careful consideration of all available pest control techniques and subsequent integration of appropriate measures that discourage the development of pest populations and keep pesticides and other interventions to levels that are economically justified and reduce or minimize risks to human health and the environment. IPM emphasizes the growth of a healthy crop with the least possible disruption to agro-ecosystems and encourages natural pest control mechanisms.”

The 6th edition of the HortiFlora Ethiopia, an International Horticultural show successfully took place from March 25 to 27, 2015 at Millennium Hall, Bole Addis Ababa Ethiopia. The event was colourfully opened by the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. Also present were senior government officials, civil society organizations and other stakeholders.

The Prime Minister said that Ethiopia’s long-term development strategy envisages agriculture-cantered development bringing fast economic progress benefiting the people and laying foundation for industrial development.

Revolutionize Packaging For The Flower Industry

There comes a time in the business world when integrity, honesty, openness, personal excellence, continual self-improvement, and mutual respect become valued constituents for things to move in the right direction. With these core beliefs, Silpack readily takes on all challenges, and pride themselves on seeing them through and holding themselves accountable to their customers, honoring their commitments, and striving for the highest quality in new and current developments.

Undervalued, neglected resourceUndervalued, the soil has become politically and physically neglected, triggering its degradation due to erosion, compaction, salinization, soil organic matter and nutrient depletion,

Listening to the continuity announcer, she announced weather forecast for the next five days as cloudy, cool and rainy weather conditions. These low light, humid conditions combined with a near full greenhouse floral crops meant Botrytis blight outbreaks. My crop was especially vulnerable now since they had a full flower canopy filled to the maximum allowable space.

Immediately, my Production Manager called me, “we are in danger of contracting Botrytis”, he started. “Botrytis is a fungal disease that can cause leaf spots, petiole blighting and stem cankers on

As the curtain of the 4th edition of the International Floriculture Trade Expo (IFTEX) 2015 opens from 3rd to 5th June, there will be no room for any shortcoming that may hamper its success. All minds and hands that know what it entails have been up and down trying to put different pieces together to make what can be seen as the true spirit of the regional horticultural industry.

The event, since its inception in 2012 has continued to aggressively spread its tentacles world over, luring to its importance the most reputed and less comparable companies in various businesses of sorts.